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Marvel adds Danai Gurira's name on the Avengers Endgame poster after outcry

Nikus

Nikus

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
10,362
This is from yesterday but I had missed it (also because I try to not follow the discussions about the movie, trying to go relatively blind).
Everyone was billed on the poster except her. People on Twitter pointed it out and Marvel reacted quickly by adding her name.
Previous version:
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Rectified version:

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https://www.polygon.com/2019/3/14/18266126/marvel-avengers-endgame-poster-danai-gurira-credits

This has probably been discussed in the trailer thread but if other crazies like me haven't watched it, they may have missed this too.
I'm curious about the process. Like they say in the Polygon article, top billing like this is a matter of negotiations by the actors' agents, what the demands of the actors are etc. But it's funny (in a good way) to see that it can be changed so fast with a few minutes on Photoshop.
In the end I'm glad she's billed even though it probably wasn't planned... Twitter does good, sometimes.
Like, yeah, "forgetting" the only black woman one day after the declarations by Feige about representation and diversity being the future for Marvel films, that was unfortunate, to say the least.



(the gif replies are good)
 
ClickyCal'

ClickyCal'

Member
Oct 25, 2017
59,467
Honestly surprised they did, but glad. It was understandable for IW because that was almost double the characters, but there was room here.
 
IDreamOfHime

IDreamOfHime

Member
Oct 27, 2017
14,413
I couldn't understand why she was the only one on the poster not credited. It was so glaringly weird.
 
OP
OP
Nikus

Nikus

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
10,362
Disney/Marvel are making good decisions this week and owning up to past mistakes, let's enjoy it.
 
T'Chakku

T'Chakku

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
2,590
Toronto
It was pretty noticeable how she was the only character on the poster not credited.
It's good that people called it out and they fixed that.
 
enzo_gt

enzo_gt

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,299
Just seemed like a forgetful mistake by the artist, unfortunately falling in front of the backdrop of black women being undervalued in the west forever.

Kinda weird in general.
 

Deleted member 33533

Banned
Nov 17, 2017
12,864
enzo_gt said:
Just seemed like a forgetful mistake by the artist, unfortunately falling in front of the backdrop of black women being undervalued in the west forever.

Kinda weird in general.
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I don't know...

The "she should have been up there all this time" bit, reads like they simply forgot.

But like, you don't just forget something like that. She was the only one on the poster without her name there. I'm assuming multiple people worked on/approved this before it came out and no one caught it? Seems unlikely that it was just forgetfulness.
 

Deleted member 36578

Dec 21, 2017
26,561
Didn't realize this happened but I'm glad they fixed it so quickly. That's really weird she's the only on that this happened to. Whether it was a really shitty choice or a bizarre coincidence of a mistake, she deserves to be credited like everyone else.
 
The Adder

The Adder

Member
Oct 25, 2017
18,086
My guess is her and her agent didn't have the pull to get her name up on the poster and Marvel didn't consider how it would look that the only person left out was the black woman.

... Now, why the black woman was the only one lacking the clout to make the billing is a whole other discussion.
 
OP
OP
Nikus

Nikus

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
10,362
The Adder said:
My guess is her and her agent didn't have the pull to get her name up on the poster and Marvel didn't consider how it would look that the only person left out was the black woman.

... Now, why the black woman was the only one lacking the clout to make the billing is a whole other discussion.
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That's a perfect summary. It wasn't malicious, but it also speaks volumes.
 
boontobias

boontobias

Avenger
Apr 14, 2018
9,529
Its not a mistake, they didnt forget. Posters and billing are negotiated.

I wish they didnt change it without a proper explanation of why it was like that. People on social media cant always cry and get what they want around stuff they have no authority in.
 
cw_sasuke

cw_sasuke

Member
Oct 27, 2017
26,337
Weird that this happened in the first place....all these characters on the poster and billing except the one black woman ? Come on guys it's 2019.
Has magic powers said:
Its not a mistake, they didnt forget. Posters and billing are negotiated.

I wish they didnt change it without a proper explanation of why it was like that. People on social media cant always cry and get what they want around stuff they have no authority in.
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Yikes.
 
Air

Air

User-Requested Ban
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
1,262
Has magic powers said:
Its not a mistake, they didnt forget. Posters and billing are negotiated.

I wish they didnt change it without a proper explanation of why it was like that. People on social media cant always cry and get what they want around stuff they have no authority in.
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This probably isn't the hill you want to die on
 
boontobias

boontobias

Avenger
Apr 14, 2018
9,529
OP
OP
Nikus

Nikus

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
10,362
Has magic powers said:
Its not a mistake, they didnt forget. Posters and billing are negotiated.

I wish they didnt change it without a proper explanation of why it was like that. People on social media cant always cry and get what they want around stuff they have no authority in.
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Now you wish you had some authority on it.
Edit: the way they handled it involves less drama and it's probably better for everyone.
 
Tfritz

Tfritz

Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,251
interesting that she somehow had ~the clout~ to be featured on the poster but not have her name on there, despite literally every other actor featured on the poster having their name listed.
 
itwasTuesday

itwasTuesday

The Fallen
Oct 30, 2017
8,078
Was it really outcry? It seems it was just pointed out and marketing said oops yeah, old one. And the corrected one was out a minute later.
 
DigitalOp

DigitalOp

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Nov 16, 2017
9,275
Imagine being upset that a Black Woman got credit on a poster because people brought awareness to her being left out.
 
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OP
Nikus

Nikus

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
10,362
itwasTuesday said:
Was it really outcry? It seems it was just pointed out and marketing said oops yeah, old one. And the corrected one was out a minute later.
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Yeah, outcry may be a little strong, I didn't follow it too closely.
It's even better if they changed it without a cataclysmic backlash actually.
 
Z-Beat

Z-Beat

One Winged Slayer
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Oct 25, 2017
31,831
The Adder said:
My guess is her and her agent didn't have the pull to get her name up on the poster and Marvel didn't consider how it would look that the only person left out was the black woman.

... Now, why the black woman was the only one lacking the clout to make the billing is a whole other discussion.
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Pretty much

iirc, Mantis, Wong, and Rocket are on the IW poster but not on the billing

I have no idea how these negotiations go down
 
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CallMeShaft

CallMeShaft

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
3,355
It was weird. I didn't expect her character to be heavily featured in the movie (I might be wrong), but if she isn't, than she shouldn't have been on the poster at all. But she was, and if she was gonna be up there, and everybody else who is up there has their names listed, it looks bad to not do the same for her.

At least Disney was quick to rectify it.
 
Elegant Weapon

Elegant Weapon

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Oct 31, 2017
6,747
DigitalOp said:
Imagine being upset that a Black Woman got credit on a poster because people brought awareness to her being left out.
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I remember posters here had snark because black Netflix customers didn't like Netflix showing minor black characters in the movie thumbnails


like, if you're not black, why are you mad that black people have feedback for a service we use that has nothing to do with you?

literally mad people have any voice at all
 
Joni

Joni

Member
Oct 27, 2017
19,508
SuperiorTrashTalk said:
But like, you don't just forget something like that. She was the only one on the poster without her name there. I'm assuming multiple people worked on/approved this before it came out and no one caught it? Seems unlikely that it was just forgetfulness.
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The names being put on posters and the artworks used have no relation between them. There is an entire negotiation thing to the name part, so very likely, they never cared about checking in the first place to see who was on the poster and on the name list. Of course, that means sometimes you're blindsided by optics like this.
 
Watchtower

Watchtower

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Oct 27, 2017
11,631
The Adder said:
My guess is her and her agent didn't have the pull to get her name up on the poster and Marvel didn't consider how it would look that the only person left out was the black woman.

... Now, why the black woman was the only one lacking the clout to make the billing is a whole other discussion.
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My take as well. Every actor save for Gurira and Ruffalo have proven to carry entire movies by themselves, and Ruffalo has at least had a semi-regular presence in Hollywood, while Gurira is still very much an unproven star.

It's still surprising that it even got that far for her to be initially uncredited on the poster, and it's incredibly good to see Disney quickly reverse their error.
 

Deleted member 33533

Banned
Nov 17, 2017
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Joni said:
The names being put on posters and the artworks used have no relation between them. There is an entire negotiation thing to the name part, so very likely, they never cared about checking in the first place to see who was on the poster and on the name list. Of course, that means sometimes you're blindsided by optics like this.
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Yeah but at some point they have to put the names on the poster and it has to be approved. So why couldn't they notice what a bunch of people online instantly noticed?
 
stillwrapped

stillwrapped

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Aug 15, 2018
994
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Good stuff.
I'm honestly very hyped for this movie. I think the Marvel movies rank from "Just ok" to "flat out bad"
But Infinity War was SO fantastic. I saw it twice in theatres and at a run time of 3 hours for a Marvel movie, I wasn't bored once. This one I'm sure will be just as good.

The Russo's definitely deserve a TON of credit, the writing team as well. As someone who hadn't seen some of the big movies leading up to Infinity War, hadn't seen the last Avengers, and not knowing who some of the characters are, they did a FABULOUS job of having just enough in there for people unfamiliar to be caught up and not slow the pace of the movie down.

No easy feat, but damn did they do it.
 
Mido

Mido

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,683
Maybe she has very little screen time in this one? Should have been there though.

Also interesting Ruffalo gets billing before Hemsworth.
 
Slayven

Slayven

Never read a comic in his life
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Oct 25, 2017
93,014
Has magic powers said:
Its not a mistake, they didnt forget. Posters and billing are negotiated.

I wish they didnt change it without a proper explanation of why it was like that. People on social media cant always cry and get what they want around stuff they have no authority in.
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Jeremy Renner was on there
Joni said:
The names being put on posters and the artworks used have no relation between them. There is an entire negotiation thing to the name part, so very likely, they never cared about checking in the first place to see who was on the poster and on the name list. Of course, that means sometimes you're blindsided by optics like this.
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Jeremy Renner was on there
 
Slayven

Slayven

Never read a comic in his life
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Oct 25, 2017
93,014
Actually folks need to look themselves trying to make this about contracts and popularity when Jeremy Renner, and Karen Gillian got credit before she did. Cause at best it makes you look like clown shoes, at worse, suspect
 
MrCibb

MrCibb

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Dec 12, 2018
5,349
UK
Nice to see the acknowledgement and the issue rectified quickly. I can't comment on the 'why' as others seem to be doing, I have no idea how this stuff works at all, but she's on the poster, she's a brilliant actress, so her name deserves to be there.
 
Zulith

Zulith

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,738
West Coast, USA
Regardless of the process for how names get billed... once you realize everyone seen on the poster is mentioned except for one, it's just wrong. Glad they fixed it.
 
Ryan.

Ryan.

Prophet of Truth
The Fallen
Oct 27, 2017
12,875
Typically it's all done through negotiations because of top billing. Although it's odd you would include her on the poster and she ends up being the only one not to have her name on top billing who's included in the illustration.
 
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