The group’s Facebook page was named “Down With Disney’s Treatment of Franchises and its Fanboys,” and it had created an event to post low review scores on the fan review section of the Rotten Tomatoes website. The exact motivations of the group aren’t completely clear, though some trends and theories have cropped up during the course of its actions.
According to a screenshot posted by Marvel Studio News, the group has now been banned by Facebook. Rotten Tomatoes has also gotten involved, stating that it would be monitoring the reviews of Black Panther and that it was fine with people not enjoying a movie, but would not tolerate hate speech on its platform.
“We at Rotten Tomatoes are proud to have become a platform for passionate fans to debate and discuss entertainment and we take that responsibility seriously,” a Rotten Tomatoes representative told The Wrap. “While we respect our fans’ diverse opinions, we do not condone hate speech. Our team of security, network and social experts continue to closely monitor our platforms and any users who engage in such activities will be blocked from our site and their comments removed as quickly as possible.”
As for the group itself, The Verge describes it as a pro-DC fan organization that is opposed to Marvel and Star Wars. The group helped review bomb The Last Jedi because they did not like the fact that it featured a female main character. The group also claims that the poor reviews of Warner Bros. DC films are due to Disney’s manipulation of film critics, though there is no evidence to support those claims.
This group’s efforts aside, the early impressions of Black Panther appear to be largely positive with critics hailing it as one of the best Marvel movies to come out in some time. Moviegoers can decide for themselves when Black Panther arrives in movie theaters on February 16.
