Ever since voices on the Internet discovered they can be louder than others, people have fought for the short attention spans of millions of clickers. When it comes to the lock and key entertainment industry, the main thing “journalists” thrive off of is guesswork. Information leaks. It happens; however, it would have to happen from inside the operation. A trigger happy Marvel executive posted the first Age of Ultron trailer on YouTube last year, it’s not like Joe Schmoe had a spy on the inside who got the trailer and ran away slow motion while the building exploded.

What’s happening to the comic book movie genre right now is a little case of Coke vs Pepsi, Steelers vs Ravens, Yankees vs Red Sox, Orange vs Apples. It’s brand loyalty, or often just character loyalty. Rabid fans think that others should fail and theirs should succeed just because their opinion is on one side rather than the other or multiple sides. And then there are the average folks who are simply fans of the movies and never got into comics. Lots of these guys and gals think that there’s a need to proclaim one company superior. Unfortunately to do so they look at Rotten Tomatoes, box office totals, and then hop on Twitter to tell the world how smart they are. I’ve seen lots of comments from people who know almost nothing about Batman or Superman except seeing their pictures on lunchboxes trashing Batman v Superman MONTHS before it came out. It’s not a healthy environment for the loyal comic fans who want to see their worlds on screen, nor is it healthy for general audience members to get the impression that comic books are a source of nothing but unattractive controversy, like discussing politics or something. The average moviegoer wants to believe in the superhero movies, not be told which ones they should or should not watch. The flame wars are petty and ridiculous.

Which leads me back to my main point. One of the biggest fuels to this fire are the guessmaster Internet journalists who provide “scoops” into upcoming superhero films, which usually don’t turn out to be true. They live the cycle of denial—they make a statement that their “sources” brought them, such as Devin Faraci’s claim that Jim Gordon was already dead in the DC Universe, and then they deny their own words and play a victim card when people call them out for being wrong. Devin Faraci has been proven to be biased towards Marvel. He is wholly a DC film hater. That’s ok to have your own opinion, but pretending to have sources inside Warner Bros, and ALWAYS making up negative rumors about DC’s films, is NOT ok. But he still gets away with it because undeniably he does hold a strong place in film critique. He just shouldn’t be reviewing and “reporting” on the films he hates, because that’s not fair to DC fans nor is it fair to general readers who take his words seriously. Most of what he reports are rumors that he guesses up. The media needs to take a step back and learn the difference between fact and fiction. Faraci has never once proven his sources or his information. He correctly guessed Doomsday (conveniently after the info leaked on Instagram by one of the villain’s animation artists)  but anyone can be good at guessing. Don’t get me wrong; he’s not the only one out there. But he’s the best example of the biased journalist that people take too seriously. He’s actually fueling the fire by sporting this obvious animosity towards DC films, and manipulating his followers and others into this hate bandwagon, but the minute any DC fans say, “Hey, Faraci, are your sources even real? You’ve never really given me reason to believe them.” At that point he’ll probably shout “troll!” and either ban you from commenting on his website or communicating with him on Twitter. It’s a childish cycle of anger that goes around and around, journalists trying to get clicks and attention, and fighting or hiding from anyone who calls them out or disagrees. It’s a toxic environment, because these grown men, film critics, are playing the 8 year old “mine’s better! No, mine!” argument. There’s nothing wrong with a healthy, kind opinion debate. But that’s not what goes around on the internet. It’s mostly forceful, loud speech or just pure, awful hatred.

So unless an article explicitly states that it comes from Warner Bros or Disney, or whatever company is keeping these films alive for us, don’t believe it. It’s that simple. It’s only manipulation or just attempts to get your attention that aren’t worth the time. I understand hunger for information. For some reason, people are so desperate to hear everything about their movie before it’s through the pipeline. Just don’t believe the rumors, and don’t take the journalists seriously. They don’t have real sources. The day will come when these films will probably die. Let’s not make that day soon due to vitriol and war. Let’s celebrate ALL superhero films, TOGETHER. They are all special. I have a dream where Iron Man can stand side-by-side with Batman on film. I have a dream where Superman AND Spider-Man visit the sick child who wants to see his heroes. Not hatred and nasty judgement or championing a victor.

John McGee