In the days since it was released, Matt Reeves’ The Batman has been one of the internet’s favorite topics.
Love it or hate it, people are desperate to talk about The Batman. They’ve taken to every social media platform available to discuss everything from its casting decisions and memorable moments to those sneaky reveals. The fervor around the March 4 film has prompted various Batman-related topics to trend on Twitter, boosting the movie’s reach even more.
Reactions to the film are largely positive. People are raving about The Batman‘s grit and style, and lauding it for welcoming viewers into a more diverse version of Gotham City. Discussions of the film’s diversity inadvertently prompted a conversation about Marvel’s The Eternals, pushing focus momentarily away from Batman and thrusting The Eternals back onto Twitter’s trending topics.
Warning: This article contains mild spoilers for ‘The Batman.‘
Fans of Marvel’s late-2021 film seized on praise of The Batman‘s diversity, pointing out that The Eternals sported a far more diverse cast than that of Reeves’ film, both in terms of race as well as sexual orientation, and blasted Batman fans for ignoring The Eternal’s contributions to the superhero genre. Unfortunately, the latter film was seen largely as stale and overstuffed by audiences, and maintains its presence as the only Marvel Cinematic Universe film with a “Rotten” score on Rotten Tomatoes.
It did boast a thoroughly diverse cast, however, and many fans felt that it was a breath of fresh air among often- stagnant MCU releases. Director Chloé Zhao attempted something fresh with Eternals, but the success of that effort continues to be the subject of fierce debate among viewers.
Some people took to the web in an attempt to remind their fellow superhero film fans of The Eternals‘ good qualities, but their efforts largely fell on deaf ears. The vast majority of Batman fans were thoroughly unimpressed, instead claiming that Eternals offered nothing but “horrible pacing and storytelling,” while Batman provides “amazing pacing, storytelling, score, etc.”
Barry Keoghan’s presence in The Batman aided immensely in The Eternals’ rise to trending status, as fans joked about his involvement in an MCU film and a DC film within months of each other.
The debate is still going strong, as people advise The Eternals to “take notes” and hype up 2022’s first superhero release.
