Fox Apologizes, Promises to Remove Controversial "X-Men: Apocalypse" Billboard

[Colossus1980]

Looking at the billboard I can see where some posters would be offended. On the other hand I see where some posters are wondering why anyone would be offended. This is a superhero movie and the heroes usually have violence heaped on them, male or female.

Topics like these make me wonder what's the purpose of having female heroes onscreen and starring in their own comics if there's no violence whatsoever because it would be deemed offensive to some. Might as well avoid having females star in comics or movies in general to avoid all potential controversy.

[RobinFan4880]

Ah thanks, that actually helps quite a bit. I'll be honest I couldn't understand the issue as well that well until you put into the fact that we understand the context due to be familiar to the comics.

How they probably could have solved this was if they wanted to show that sort of scene, maybe have a hawk eye view looking down at Apocalypse choking mystique, while they xmen lay clearly defeated around Apocalypse's feet. That way it provides the context that Apocalypse just defeated the xmen, and mystique is the last one remaining, struggling to fight.

I don't think it would have worked as an effective billboard, since you have a second or three to look at it as you drive by.

[kalorama]

The scene wasn't even great in the movie. In fact, it was very much unnecessary. If you take offense to the choke in a billboard, you should take offense to it in the movie because it was completely disempowering for Raven. It killed her agency and momentum as a character in the film.

That's not true at all. It's petty much the opposite of the truth, really.

Throughout the movie she was portrayed as someone who had no particular love for humanity nor for her role as the new mutant "It Girl." The only reason she got mixed up in any of this was to help Eric, who she thought (correctly) was in trouble. By the time the choking scene occurred, Eric had already broken away from Apocalypse, meaning Raven had basically fulfilled her main objective. Yet, knowing full well that she was no match for Apocalypse and that facing him head on would probably get her killed, she still made a choice to fight him, in order to protect the innocent lives--mutant and human--he was endangering, even though she previously had expressed no interest in being a hero. That's a very obvious example of her exerting her agency. It's also an example of forward character momentum, moving her from someone who only cared about her own agenda to someone who was willing to sacrifice for something outside of/larger than herself and her own concerns.

[Cloudman]

Why remain silent and be thought a fool when you can spout off and remove all doubt? Why don't you look into the subject of casual violence against women instead of letting your hard-on for Marvel do your talking for you. I have sisters, a wife, and a daughter who would benefit from expanded insight into this issue by men/boys who just don't see the harm.

Oh dear. Do I need to remind people what happens when you assume?

I haven't even seen the movie, and I don't intend to see it at the cinema, so there's no 'hard-on' for Marvel here. When women are in action movies, they might get hurt. Unless you think it's your business to be the protector of women, and to remove them from action movies altogether, you don't have a leg to stand on.

[He-Kal]

I disagree.

This isn't domestic violence, it's a superhero movie, where super powerful men are beating up on super powerful women. Fantasy. A woman warrior is fighting a male warrior--the blue skin on both characters outright shows that this isn't a "real life" situation.

I think you nailed it on the head. If this was a billboard with an average woman and man doing this, I could see where people would be upset. But getting upset over this....?

[RobinFan4880]

Looking at the billboard I can see where some posters would be offended. On the other hand I see where some posters are wondering why anyone would be offended. This is a superhero movie and the heroes usually have violence heaped on them, male or female.

Topics like these make me wonder what's the purpose of having female heroes onscreen and starring in their own comics if there's no violence whatsoever because it would be deemed offensive to some. Might as well avoid having females star in comics or movies in general to avoid all potential controversy.

That is a definite threat. People want female heroes and female villains but thy also want women to never get hurt. It's a strange dichotomy when talking about superhero films, which are very much defined by violence.

I often think that this is an issue because there's usually only one woman in a given film. Therefore she needs to represent her entire gender by herself. You solve that problem is by including lots of women in your films. It is ok if one woman gets beaten up by the bad guy, or one of them has a damsel moment because there are lots of women in the film, each of whom can be fully fleshed out characters with both good and bad scenes (like any male character).

[RobinFan4880]

That's not true at all. It's petty much the opposite of the truth, really.

Throughout the movie she was portrayed as someone who had no particular love for humanity nor for her role as the new mutant "It Girl." The only reason she got mixed up in any of this was to help Eric, who she thought (correctly) was in trouble. By the time the choking scene occurred, Eric had already broken away from Apocalypse, meaning Raven had basically fulfilled her main objective. Yet, knowing full well that she was no match for Apocalypse and that facing him head on would probably get her killed, she still made a choice to fight him, in order to protect the innocent lives--mutant and human--he was endangering, even though she previously had expressed no interest in being a hero. That's a very obvious example of her exerting her agency. It's also an example of forward character momentum, moving her from someone who only cared about her own agenda to someone who was willing to sacrifice for something outside of/larger than herself and her own concerns.

She was literally choked for what felt like five minutes, slowly dying so that a white male characters could intervene and save her. granted, it didn't work and Phoenix needed to intervene but, still, she was turned into a damsel.

She could have easily been punched or swatted away and it would have had the same effect, except she wouldn't have been turned into a damsel and she wouldn't have to be saved by Eric (or anyone else).

[Chinhead]

Well done social justice mob! Moving us ever closer to a world where women can't even be depicted in action movies.

You mean being depicted IN PERIL or AT MOMENTS OF WEAKNESS in action movies. Its ok for them to kick CIS male ass all over the show, I imagine. Don't forget how people lost their **** when they tried to give Black Widow a love interest. Honestly though, what do we want from equality? Rose McGowen's comments about 'white on black, straight on gay' violence don't sit right white me either. I can't quite express... Why would I presume that the violence between these two hypothetical people has ANYTHING to do with colour or sexuality? Its just two PEOPLE fighting, right? (which is bad enough) That's the way its supposed to be. (God, I hope someone gets what I'm reaching for. lol)

[Chinhead]

How they probably could have solved this was if they wanted to show that sort of scene, maybe have a hawk eye view looking down at Apocalypse choking mystique, while they xmen lay clearly defeated around Apocalypse's feet. That way it provides the context that Apocalypse just defeated the xmen, and mystique is the last one remaining, struggling to fight.

That sounds like it would be an awesome image.

[regnak]

There was a long period of time in Hollywood where women could not be harmed or put in peril if there was any sort of violence happening in the film, mostly in the 30's through the 60's. Go ahead, watch any of the "black and whites" that have some sort of violence in them and count how many hurt women. Also count how many women were allowed to be dynamic characters in any film that had violence in it. The percentage of both is atrocious.

You must not have seen many of the cliffhanger serials from the 30-50s. There were plenty of women in peril who were also dynamic characters although only the villainesses ended up getting killed in the end.

[Wulf1984]

She was literally choked for what felt like five minutes, slowly dying so that a white male characters could intervene and save her. granted, it didn't work and Phoenix needed to intervene but, still, she was turned into a damsel.

She could have easily been punched or swatted away and it would have had the same effect, except she wouldn't have been turned into a damsel and she wouldn't have to be saved by Eric (or anyone else).

There is a reason why Apocaylpse is being particularly bad towards her...Mystique turned into Psylocke, caught him off guard and slashed his throat.

Mystique was a bigger threat than the others, so she got a bigger response.

[kalorama]

She was literally choked for what felt like five minutes, slowly dying so that a white male characters could intervene and save her. granted, it didn't work and Phoenix needed to intervene but, still, she was turned into a damsel.

She could have easily been punched or swatted away and it would have had the same effect, except she wouldn't have been turned into a damsel and she wouldn't have to be saved by Eric (or anyone else).

That's flat out wrong on a number of levels, not the least of which is that the deciding factor in the battle was actually Jean Gray who, last I checked, was a woman. If not for her, they'd have all died. And Xavier--who absorbed a beating much more savage that the treatment Raven got--was about a nanosecond away from being erased from existence before Jean stepped in, so the suggestion that Mystique was being treated differently because she was a woman has zero credibility.

[KurtW95]

Unbelievable. Fox had absolutely nothing to apologize for.

[GSwarthout]

Oh dear. Do I need to remind people what happens when you assume?

I haven't even seen the movie, and I don't intend to see it at the cinema, so there's no 'hard-on' for Marvel here. When women are in action movies, they might get hurt. Unless you think it's your business to be the protector of women, and to remove them from action movies altogether, you don't have a leg to stand on.

I see you brought your own shovel; makes it easier to dig yourself deeper. I didn't say that there was a hard-on for Marvel *here* but rather that *you* have a hard-on for Marvel, which I gathered by looking at your posting history. You're a fan and your default position is to defend the thing you are a fan of. Nothing wrong with that. What is wrong is only looking at the instant case and dismissing it out-of-hand based on that fandom.

[AndrewBatman82]

wow just because a hollywood actress saids "it looks wrong" we have to all suffer for it? wow thanks alot Rose McGowan so this is how this is going to be? what happens if Wonder Woman is stomp by Darkseid (if he becomes the villain) in the Justice League movie? we are just going to cut half of the film or take away any billboards that promotes the movie?