Amber Heard recently suggested that the barrage of online campaigns being launched against her were secretly funded and paid for, and while that might sound like a paranoid conspiracy theory, troll farms are a very real thing. People go out of their way to recruit as many folks as possible to actively sabotage something online, whether it be a movie’s Rotten Tomatoes user score or a targeted social media attack that looks to twist the public perception of the project in question.
We’ve seen it happen before with the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Captain Marvel, when trolls did everything they could to try and downvote Carol Danvers’ origin story into oblivion. And while some sections of the fanbase still haven’t reconciled themselves with the fact that Brie Larson is part of the franchise for the long run, a little online backlash didn’t stop the movie from earning over a billion dollars at the box office.
Now, tipster Mikey Sutton claims that Warner Bros. are of a similar belief when it comes to the relentless desire from various corners of the internet to see see Heard booted from her role as Mera in Aquaman 2, and they have no intention of asking her to step down just because Johnny Depp has been trending at various points over the last couple of weeks.
“They see it no differently than the boycott of Marvel Studios’ Captain Marvel film, which proved to be ineffective as it brought in over a billion to Disney,” says Sutton. “They believe it’s artificially inflated and most likely politically motivated. They don’t base their decisions on web chatter.”
Of course, if the tide turns and Depp comes out victorious in the next courtroom battle, which sees them suing each other for defamation, then everything could change. But for now, Heard looks to be safe and secure as an important part of the DCEU while her former husband comes to terms with the fact that his career may have suffered from irreparable damage.
