The stars of Marvel’s Avengers gathered together for a campaign video in favor of a future Harris administration. Featuring stars such as Don Cheadle, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johannsson and Robert Downey Jr, the video may have had an unintended consequence. Or… if you believe things might be more sinister… perhaps it’s an attempt to say the quiet part out loud?
In the video, the celebrities talk about getting “out the vote”. They then segue into promotion of a supposed slogan they’re going to invent for Kamala Harris. During the scripted banter, the actors start calling out “down with Democracy” and have epic, movie-style music playing in the background. One might reasonably believe they’re attempting to be funny and make a joke. However, the likely damage from the video could be significant. The humor — if there is any — is taken from a very meta sort of place. Rather than laughs or extra voters, it’s more likely that clips of the video will play on the internet for years to come. It could be very problematic for Disney. And even more of a concern, it could sink Disney’s enthusiasm for Robert Downey Jr’s return to the MCU as Doctor Doom.
As you can see in social media reactions below, it may not be going the way the stars might have intended:
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However, the attempt to assemble the Disney Avengers for a satire-laced campaign video may have been created by the frequent online meme regarding “The Avengers” on the right. A video clip from the Megyn Kelly Show has celebrity Zachari Levi declaring that people like Tulsi Gabbard, Elon Musk and Robert F. Kennedy are the new Avengers.
Still, if the goal was to refute and rebuke the current meme, it doesn’t seem it’s paying off. Instead, Robert Downey Jr may have hurt the enthusiasm for his presence in the future MCU projects. While making campaign videos doesn’t have to hurt a celebrity, being associated with the clips and videos that will come out of this misplaced “joke” could really be an ugly briar in the actor’s side going forward. The others have far less to lose at this stage in their careers than RDJ. But Marvel definitely has the most to lose.
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At least if ever they feel the butt of too much ridicule after this one, they can always remind that Wonder Woman and DC have had bad days too.
