by Drew Kiess

It’s gotten to the point where I dread a big superhero movie opening. Don’t get me wrong, when I’m in the theater watching them, I’m having the time of my life, mostly. I enjoyed Black Panther, even if I had a few nitpicks.

But we don’t live in a world where we just enjoy things. It has to be accompanied by so much baggage. From behind-the-scenes drama, corporate finances, and social movements now dominate the discussion of the golden era of superheroes on the silver screen.

This last week, a film pundit (who shall remain nameless here) took to his platform to proclaim that something bad was coming down the pipe regarding DC on film but that he wasn’t go to share. Of course, with the internets being what they are, this blew up with speculation that resulted in Matt Reeves responding on Twitter that he was, indeed, not leaving as director of The Batman, which was a rumor spawned out of the whole mess.

This is where fandom is, and I want no part of it. I know I freelance for a fansite, but I strive to be better than the rumor-mill style of writing that has become so pervasive in this corner of the internet. Any trip onto Twitter seeing more fevered arguments about whether or not we should have the “who would win in a fight…” argument about female comic book characters from people who are outside of comic book culture is enough to make me, for a split second, think that, perhaps, fandom is toxic after all.

But there are moments, when talking with my friends who love these characters like I do, that I find a joy in my fandom again. The noise of online fandom fades into the background as we talk about Frank Miller vs Scott Snyder, or whether Aquaman could take down Namor (he could, by the way. Just call in a whale and have it sit on top of him. TKO).

The noise fades when every time I crack open an issue of Action Comics and see Booster Gold reference Marvel Comics. Or Superman and see Clark and Jon talking about the nature of hope and faith. Or The Mighty Thor and see decades of amazing Thor stories coming to a head during Jane Foster’s final days.

I don’t think fandom is toxic. I think we’ve just lost our way the past few years, and I’m hopeful we’ll find it again. I don’t recall every having a time more rich with great superhero content between comics, movies, television, and video games, and I’m choosing to enjoy every second of it. And even if I don’t like something, I’ll happily move along. Life’s too short to linger there.

I’ll also try to avoid Twitter. That might help, too.

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