'Ms. Marvel,' A Celebration Of Fans, Is Being Review Bombed By 'Fans'
Don't even think about going outside, cracking open a book, or talking to a loved one, because Marvel has yet more content for your eyeballs – this time, it's Ms. Marvel, a Disney+ series following the adventures of Kamala Khan, a teenage New Jerseyan and the first Muslim superhero to appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
There's a lot to love in the first episode; Ms. Marvel has an energy and exuberance that the MCU arguably hasn't seen since Spider-Man: Homecoming (which, perhaps not coincidentally, was also about a superpowered, yet still extremely awkward, teen). It's also, unapologetically, a celebration of fan culture, chronicling Kamala's attempts to attend AvengerCon, a convention for devotees of Iron Man and his pals.
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AvengerCon is depicted as a harmonious communal gathering of like-minded fans, featuring elaborate costumes and fun games – but conspicuously no stale fluorescent lighting, ill-tempered bathroom line-ups, or $11 slices of day-old pizza.
This rosy depiction of fan culture was almost immediately punctured by the real-life reaction to the show itself. Despite being very good and boasting near-unanimous critical praise, Ms. Marvel is currently the "lowest scored MCU series on IMDB" thanks to "review-bombing." The same thing happened to Captain Marvel in 2019 due to angry "fans" impotently raging against the film's so-called "feminist agenda." And even some people who were seemingly totally cool with Captain Marvel are now targeting Ms. Marvel because they "view a Muslim superhero as an assault on Christian values."
In light of this development, it's hard not to view the good-natured earnestness of the Ms. Marvel premiere a tad differently; in retrospect, the fact that no percentage of AvengerCon attendees turn out to be racist, misogynistic d-bags out to ruin the experience for everyone else is one of the least believable parts of the MCU, a world in which both magic and Norse alien gods are totally real.
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Top Image: Marvel
