Outspoken leftist author Stephen King blamed the box office failure of “The Marvels” on woman-hating fanboys. But his social media followers aren’t letting him get away with it.
“Some of the rejection of THE MARVELS may be adolescent fanboy hate. You know, ‘Yuck! GIRLS!’” the 76-year-old author shared on X November 12, in a post that has since racked up more than 2 million views.
Some of the rejection of THE MARVELS may be adolescent fanboy hate. You know, "Yuck! GIRLS!"
— Stephen King (@StephenKing) November 13, 2023
“The Marvels” was a massive disappointment for the MCU, pulling in just $47 million during its opening weekend — the lowest in the franchise’s history. The poor showing is partly blamed on multiple factors, including the actors’ strike in Hollywood and general superhero movie fatigue.
Social media users objected to King’s implication that the female-led film starring Brie Larson, which was also touted for having the franchise’s first black female director, crashed and burned because would-be moviegoers hate women.
“I am a woman. I saw the movie. It was bad,” BlazeTV host Lauren Chen replied.
“Or maybe the movie just sucks?” another person suggested.
“Given that most of the people who go see these kinds of superhero movies are adolescent boys, absolutely yes, which should immediately tell you something about how fantastically Disney is failing their core audience right now,” a third person observed.
“It’s fine though. Adolescent boys will simply take their money somewhere else where their audienceship is appreciated and welcomed.”
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A few of King’s followers called him out for not patronizing the movie himself and then complaining about poor numbers.
“Since you don’t go to MCU movies and don’t care for them, that means you rejected The Marvels, right? Does that mean you hate women?” one person wrote with a screenshot of the horror book writer’s previous tweet.
King had tweeted earlier the same day, writing, “I don’t go to MCU movies, don’t care for them, but I find this barely masked gloating over the low box office for THE MARVELS very unpleasant. Why gloat over failure?”
Marvel Studios recently postponed three projects originally slated for 2024.
“Captain America: A Brave New World,” “Thunderbolts,” and “Blade” are being pushed to 2025 because of strike-related production delays. That means the only Marvel release scheduled for 2024 is “Deadpool 3.”
Though these actions aren’t necessarily due to “The Marvels” being a flop, it does give the studio time to regroup and come up with a new strategy.