Directors of “Ms. Marvel” Adil El Arbi and Billal Fallah have responded to the review-bombing that targeted the new Disney Plus series shortly after its premiere on June 8.
“Ms. Marvel” follows the story of Kamala Khan, a seemingly ordinary teenage girl from New Jersey who one day finds herself imbued with superpowers. The series brings to screen MCU’s first-ever Muslim and South Asian superhero.
Critics and viewers noticed the show was bombarded with baseless one-star reviews on IMDb, dragging down its overall rating to 6.5 within a day of its release. The overall rating has since gone down even further to a 6.2 as of this writing.
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A variety of factors, including the overwhelmingly positive reviews the show received from critics, suggested the low crowd-sourced rating was a result of review-bombing. The practice has previously targeted other Marvel productions, particularly those showcasing representation in Hollywood.
El Arbi and Fallah responded to the review-bombing in an interview with Gizmodo, noting how the fandom’s values take from both the “good and the bad” in society.
El Arbi’s full statement reads:
“Well, I think fandom values are a reflection of society, you know, so you got to have the good and the bad. We believe that it’s overall good. I mean, fandom for us the reason why we make these TV shows and movies. They make Marvel MCU heroes big and that’s why we have AvengerCon. We try to do that homage to the fandom. That’s why Kamala Khan is a fan. You got to also respect the fandom because they’re so passionate about that. I think that we tend to focus just on the positive aspects of it, because the love and the care that they give. You will not have that in any other job and it’s a real pleasure. We hope that our humble contribution to the MCU will please the fandom everywhere in the world, especially the younger fandom.”
Featured Image via Disney Plus
