Kevin Feige, the head of Marvel Studios, called the Internet culture of today a “hell pit.” His words might seem harsh to some, but they’re not completely off base, either. The social media age has given everyone a chance to say what they think about whatever they want in whatever way they want. It has also led to the “toxic fandom” movement and the “cancel culture.”
Some fans feel like they own the brands or franchises they love the most. They think that if they start petitions about things they don’t like, Brie Larson will be fired from the biggest role of her career or Lucasfilm will release J.J. Abrams’ director’s cut of The Rise of Skywalker, even though there is no evidence that such a thing even exists. In fact, Danny DeVito being cast as Wolverine in the MCU is the only one of these petitions that everyone seems to agree on, and for good reason.
People are too quick to jump on a bandwagon without knowing the facts. This was shown recently when the 12-year-old comedy Tropic Thunder suddenly became popular on Twitter. Only recently did people find out that Robert Downey Jr.’s character, Kirk Lazarus, spent most of the movie in blackface.
It’s a comedy that came out more than a decade ago, and Robert Downey Jr. has already had to defend his performance after being criticized for it. Also, anyone who has seen Tropic Thunder knows that the character’s whole point is to make fun of actors who think they can play any role, no matter their race, creed, or color.
In fact, one of the people who was offended posted a correction to their original statement and said that they hadn’t even seen the movie before accusing Robert Downey Jr. of being racist because they had only seen pictures of his character with no explanation.
Only people who haven’t seen Tropic Thunder would not know that Kirk Lazarus is based on satire. Wait until they find out that he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the Oscars, Golden Globes, BAFTAs, Critics’ Choice, and Screen Actors Guild. Then they’ll be really mad.