The Marvel Cinematic Universe gave us its latest offering on Wednesday with the highly anticipated Ms. Marvel making its debut on Disney+.
Having watched it, I can say this: I thought it was pretty good. Great, even. It was unlike anything else I’ve ever watched in MCU history.
That’s why it’s more than worthy of its 97% Rotten Tomatoes score. Through just one episode, it’s the highest-rated MCU property ever on the site just narrowly edging Black Panther out at 96%. I’m unsure if this will last, but it’s certainly a fantastic sign moving forward for the series.
It’s also part of the reason why the IMDb user critique score for the series is so incredibly frustrating.
Ms. Marvel currently has a 6.6 rating on that platform, which is actually the lowest out of any MCU property on the Disney+ platform. Falcon and The Winter Soldier is ahead of it by quite a bit with a 7.2.
That number for Ms. Marvel was initially a bit confounding for me. How could such a critically acclaimed series be missing the mark with people by so much? It didn’t take long to find the answer to that question after just digging into the reviews for just a few seconds.
Most of the current reviews on the series are 10-stars, which bodes well for the series moving forward. But there are also more than 2,000 1 star reviews so far, too.
If that sounds weird to you, don’t worry. You’re not tripping. It is. This is a very clear review bomb situation.
For those of you who don’t know, a review bomb is when a large number of folks across the internet conspire against a series or a product for one reason or another to leave a slew of negative reviews on it.
More often than not, those reviews aren’t warranted. They’re usually because of some political or ideological standpoint some folks are railing against. Sometimes, they’re just plain hateful. For example, a bit more recently, Star Wars’ new Obi-Wan Kenobi series was review bombed after Lucasfilm called out viewers for sending starring actress Moses Ingram racist messages via Instagram.
We are proud to welcome Moses Ingram to the Star Wars family and excited for Reva’s story to unfold. If anyone intends to make her feel in any way unwelcome, we have only one thing to say: we resist. pic.twitter.com/lZW0yvseBk
— Star Wars (@starwars) May 31, 2022
Her co-stars backed her, too, and the audience didn’t like it. So they bombed it.
The series has a 57% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes but an 88% by actual critics on the site. The difference is stark. That’s exactly what we’re seeing with Ms. Marvel here.
Now, some of you are probably saying, “Yo, wait. Isn’t it possible that people just might not actually like the series?” That’s a fair question. Totally. I, personally, like to believe in the good in people, too.
And sure, maybe the series is rather cartoonish. She also does get her powers in a strange way (I won’t spoil it here) that isn’t necessarily true to her character in the comics.
But that’s almost certainly not why people are complaining here. All you have to do is read reviews on Ms. Marvel and that makes it totally clear. So let’s dive into some of these.
Here’s a good one.
“It’s an ok show if you’re a kid, but honestly the worst part is the pandering. Can we just make good shows and leave all the politics out of it? Marvel is the worst.”
Ah, yes. The classic politics trope. Because there’s something political about putting people of color on camera. But wait, y’all. There’s more.
“One of the Worst Marvel show I have seen. If marvel continues this kind of show linking religion to the marvel universe, then marvel will surely lose viewers!”
Right. Inserting religion into the MCU in the form of a 16-year-old Brown, Muslim girl is a problem. But, you know, when Steve Rogers talks about God it’s OK.
Hope buddy isn’t looking forward to the next Thor movie, by the way. Lots of Gods and lots of butchering in that one. Let’s do one more for good measure.
“I feel like anyone over the age of 10 would be embarrassed to watch this in front of other people. Sadly this seems to be the trend with all Disney+ shows.”
Anyone over 10, huh? It’s almost like you probably shouldn’t have adult expectations for a television show rated TV-14.
You can go find all of these on the IMDb page for the series. They’re right there. And there are thousands of other comments just like them, complaining about the show being too childish or too cartoonish or too Muslim or too Brown.
And all of it is garbage. All of it is just hate. It’s completely ridiculous and unfounded. These folks don’t even really hate the show — they hate the idea of the show.
They hate the fact that there’s a series about a little Brown, Muslim girl who lives in Jersey City and that she’s the one who is going to save the world this time. There’s actually a moment in the episode that speaks directly to this.
Khan sits on the roof with her best friend, Bruno, after she has a spat with her parents. They’re having a heart to heart and in the midst of it, she says “It’s not really the Brown girls from Jersey who save the world.”
This isn’t just Khan having a conversation with Bruno — it’s the show speaking directly to us, too. They’re letting us know all heroes aren’t Captain America or Spider-Man or Iron Man. They don’t have to be that.
They can be 16-year-old Muslim girls from Jersey City, too. Like Kamala Khan. And they let us know that with Bruno’s retort.
“Sure they do. You’re Kamala Khan. You want to save the world? Then you’re going to save the world.”
If you hate that? Ok. Whatever. Don’t watch it. But that’s not political. That’s reality. Don’t try to ruin everyone else’s fun because you can’t accept that. Nothing the show does could be more childish than the mindset of those viewers.