Marvel’s Black Panther Fake Assault Stories on Twitter

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The one thing dampening Black Panther’s incredible success has been the emergence of fake assault stories on Twitter.

Marvel’s Black Panther broke records. Not only did it raise USD 476.6 million in its first ten days of release, but it also had a feverishly positive response from ticket buyers. Recommendations have spent by word of mouth and the reviews of the epic film. Directed by Ryan Coogler, “Black Panther” is not only advanced regarding technology, but the popularity of its mythic theme proves that Marvel movies may be here to stay.

Only two movies have reached such box office success as quickly. Black Panther is now tied with Jurassic World for the sophomore (second) position of the fastest grossing movie in the first few weekends of release. Star Wars – The Force Awakens is still number one, as it reached $400 million even faster.

While Black Panther made headlines for presenting a new era of equality with black superheroes, the choice has historical roots in the original comic book. Black Panther was the first black superhero-themed comic book appearing in July 1966, as part of the Fantastic Four.

WHAT IS A FAKE ASSAULT STORY AND WHY WOULD SOMEONE MAKE SOMETHING UP?

Short Answer: to create fake controversy and spread lies based on race.

Twitter was one target of the charade. During a time when so many people are pleased by the long-awaited diversity of the Marvel blockbuster, hearing racist lies from trolls has been an upsetting shock for the film’s supporters and its cast.

When trolls began to attack, it seemed as though the movie’s critical acclaim might be marred by falsely constructed posts showing (supposedly) bruised or bloodied targets.

Who were the “targets”?

The posts were geared to claim that various white people had been attacked by the movie’s black attendees. The apparent target audience of the fictional posts were other people with anti-black views and to increase racial divide.

Twitter users were savvy enough to do their research, via reverse image searching immediately. Through that tool, they were able to reveal that the images used in the alleged “attacks,” were falsified. One example of this was posted by Gan Sharma, on Twitter.

His post showed that one “attack” photo was taken from a 2013 Serbian photo about preventing domestic violence. While the image appeared violent and frightening, the model had makeup on.

Guardians Of The Galaxy director, James Gunn, spoke up to refute the racist imagery he was seeing. Saying, “The racists are out and rearing their ugly heads with lots of fake tweets about violence at #BlackPanther screenings. In truth, people from all walks of life have been enjoying the film together this weekend. Don’t let this BS scare you away.”

Not only were there false allegations of violence, but trolls attempted to sway the movie’s high ratings on movie review sites. IMDB.com and Rotten Tomatoes were some of the targets for such troll disses.

The movie’s success managed to win out as it still kept relatively positive reviews. Rotten Tomatoes indicated they would give extra attention to individual user’s posts and video reviews for the films, to avoid any incorrect ratings.

Twitter users continued to combat trolls with wit and by posting parodies to show just how ridiculous and untrue the claims of inaccurate physical attacks were.

Their quick wit and voracious response helped stop trolls in their tracks, and their satire of the lies let everyone see just how ludicrous they were.

Those who loved the film and appreciate diversity also posted against racism. Trolls aside, the movie’s success speaks for itself and continues to grow, weekly.

If you ever hear stories that are too crazy to believe, just run a reverse image search via Berify to check where an image originated from.