Originally Posted by
Sutekh
For ages, there's been a sort of marketization of tribalism, in, say, sports. It was part of being a Giants fan to trash Patriots fans, and vice versa, for instance, and yet this *usually* didn't seem that venomous, in my recollection.
In the last few decades tho, it's seemed more entrenched and widespread.
To be a fan of X, you have to HATE Y. Team Shirtless Werewolf hates Team Sparkly Vampire. Team Iron Man hates Team Captain America. Team X-Men fans hates team Avengers fans. Team Snyderverse hates Team MCU. It seemed like the marketing folk have mistaken the passion that comes from whipped up 'fans' hating on 'the other side' for a lasting love of their character that's going to earn then a loyal lasting customer, and not someone just whipped into a passing faddish frenzy and as likely to wander off to the next ginned-up controversy that inflames their passions, than remain 'Team Edward' or 'Team Iron Man' fans for life. (Or, worse, turn on them in outrage when they begin to write a storyline that makes their chosen side look bad, or lose to the other side.)
It seems short-sighted, to me. I can totally get why I would want to do something like that for the Twilight movies. Three movies and we're done. Ooh, Team Werewolf is gonna be pissed that we built up a 'rivalry' and had the Vampire planned to 'win' in the end and were just stringing the suckers along, but who cares, we got their money, and we're not making a franchise for the ages here.
But for something like Marvel vs. DC, or even factions within a single company, like X-Men vs. Avengers? These are IPs that are meant to be making money *for decades*, and it doesn't seem like a good long-term marketing strategy to be dividing the fanbase into screaming camps who can't enjoy the shared property together and build the fanbase.