Furious fans are waging a social media war against the Marvel China promotion team for what they described as an unprofessional, embarrassing, and shambolic event on Thursday.
The event was held at Shanghai Disney Resort in honor of the 10th anniversary of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Robert Downey Jr., Mark Ruffalo, Tom Holland, and Tom Hiddleston — who play Iron Man, The Hulk, Spider-Man, and Loki, respectively — were among the stars in attendance. But Chinese fans of the franchise complained that their beloved superheroes were pushed aside in favor of “irrelevant” local celebrities.
It is common practice for marketing companies to hire Chinese celebrities to promote foreign films screening on the mainland, and several singers who do not appear in the upcoming “Avengers” film have been hired for the movie’s advertising campaign.
On microblogging platform Weibo, the hashtag “Marvel China promo team apology” has garnered more than 18 million reads. Marvel Studios had not replied to Sixth Tone’s request for comment by the time of publication.
Chinese Marvel fans had been pumped for the star-studded event, with some crowds lining up outside the red-carpet area the previous day. Early Thursday morning, Marvel Studios advised fans on Weibo that the red-carpet area had reached capacity, and that any fans outside the area should watch the event’s livestreamed broadcast. Disappointed fans bombarded the post’s comments section, asking why organizers did not enforce their earlier rule banning crowds from lining up overnight. Continue to read the full article here.
This is original content by Sixth Tone and has been republished with permission.
