DC Comics has come under fire and has been accused of kowtowing to China after it deleted a poster from its social media accounts that some Chinese commentators said was supporting the pro-liberty protestors in Hong Kong.
The art that DC Comics deleted shows Batman throwing a bottle bomb (often called a Molotov cocktail) along with the words “the future is young.”
The poster art was to advertise an upcoming comic called “Dark Knight Returns: The Golden Child” which will be released on December 11 and is written by comic book legend Frank Miller.
The artwork was posted to both the DC Comics' Instagram and Twitter accounts.
However, it wasn't up long before Chinese comments began to suggest that Batman throwing a Molotov cocktail was somehow a loose way of DC Comics showing their support for Hong Kong protestors.
The comments also suggested that, since Batman is wearing black (as do the Hong Kong protestors), that that too was evidence of DC Comics alluding to support for Hong Kong.
“No matter what the reason, to put an image like this up at a sensitive time like this means you have a death wish,” said a comment on Weibo.
“The black clothes represent Hong Kong, the mask represents Hong Kong, the Molotov cocktail represents Hong Kong, what else here doesn’t represent Hong Kong???” another comment read.
It didn't take much for DC to buckle and delete the poster from their social media accounts.
And instead of the comments from supporters of China criticizing DC, DC then faced much more criticism from commentators who were outraged that the US company would so easily censor on behalf of offended Chinese commenters – especially at a time when several companies have been heavily criticized by both customers and Congress for bending the knee to China.
Support Hong Kong's Democracy Movement
Support Free Speech.
China can suck it.
No Censorship!#TheDarkKnightReturnsRheGoldenChild#Batman pic.twitter.com/JVCybdqgAe
— Keith Howell (@profchallenger) November 28, 2019
such a shame @DCComics censored its own post & decided to knee to #China💰 after too many Chinese Communists complain with their fragile hearts
SO LAME. Another American company knee to Communist China 🤮#ChineseExpansion #USA #NBA#HongKongProtest #HongKong pic.twitter.com/U0dpxImO8P
— Poppyoflondon (@poppyoflondon) November 27, 2019
And DC has surrendered to China and removed the Instagram post. You know, I really thought they had a spine lol.
Also, just because Batman is holding a Molotov cocktail, doesn't mean that it's related to the Hong Kong protest, the Chinese netizens are clearly too sensitive🤷♂️
— Emotional 🏳️🌈 😷 (@emotion_att) November 27, 2019
Blizzard Entertainment was heavily criticized for punishing their pro gamer blitzchung when he publicly supported liberating Hong Kong, and Apple was publicly criticized by US Senators and customers when it decided to ban an app, HKMap Live, that was keeping protestors safe.
China this week reacted furiously to President Donald Trump’s signing two bills aimed at supporting human rights in Hong Kong.
