A number of Redditors seem to have uncovered a trolling campaign directed at attacking Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice on Twitter.
Videos by ComicBook.com
In what one purported social media marketing specialist says is likely a paid — but very inexpensive — online campaign, numerous tweets reading “Batman v Superman will be a two hour tracking shot of every DC character crying in the rain” (or variations thereon) are making their way through Twitter. The messages seem to be using an algorithm that prevents the spambot from being detected by creating a variety of different spelling errors, double spaces and other means of preventing easy cut-and-paste detection.
Most of the accounts broadcasting the message seem to feature young women as their profile pictures, and a number of them tweet primarily non-English-language tweets, except the Batman V Superman message. It’s unclear whether they are fake accounts, whether the accounts are hacked, whether the users are in on the negative messaging, or a combination of those factors.
The message, of course, plays on one of the most popular criticisms of Man of Steel and the promotional campaign for Batman V Superman, which is the dour look and tone of the movies compared to other, “lighter” superhero films.
Spreading negative buzz about an upcoming film in this way can create negative word-of-mouth, which is something that Batman V Superman has been struggling with in the weeks leading up to its March 25 release. Recently, a rumor that Warner Bros. was concerned about the film’s reception with test audiences and its potential to be a failure spread around the Internet for a few days.
So far, it’s hard to say whether those rumors, or fans’ concerns about the film’s tone, will impact it. While the minority is quite vocal, the post points out that most of the talk about Batman V Superman online is actually benign-to-positive, and it retains a 99% “want to see” rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Most etimates for its opening weekend have been upwards of $130 million — although as we recently saw with Deadpool (projected for $75 million, earned $135), the experts aren’t always right.
Cosmic Booknews stumbled upon the Reddit post and social media users brought it to our attention.
Fearing the actions of a god-like Super Hero left unchecked, Gotham City’s own formidable, forceful vigilante takes on Metropolis’s most revered, modern-day savior, while the world wrestles with what sort of hero it really needs. And with Batman and Superman at war with one another, a new threat quickly arises, putting mankind in greater danger than it’s ever known before.
