Why The Internet Is Disturbed By This ‘X-Men’ Poster

A new poster for "X-Men: Apocalypse" featuring Jennifer Lawrence is getting attention for the all the wrong reasons. 

The poster features Lawrence as her blue-skinned character Mystique being strangled by antagonist Apocalypse, played by Oscar Issac. Unsurprisingly, many are not happy with the imagery 20th Century Fox chose. 

Actress Rose McGowan weighed in, as well, while speaking with The Hollywood Reporter: 

There is a major problem when the men and women at 20th Century Fox think casual violence against women is the way to market a film. There is no context in the ad, just a woman getting strangled. The fact that no one flagged this is offensive and frankly, stupid. The geniuses behind this, and I use that term lightly, need to to take a long hard look at the mirror and see how they are contributing to society. Imagine if it were a black man being strangled by a white man, or a gay male being strangled by a hetero? The outcry would be enormous. So let’s right this wrong. 20th Century Fox, since you can’t manage to put any women directors on your slate for the next two years, how about you at least replace your ad?

The Mary Sue also commented on the negative implications of showing a naked woman being choked by a male three times her size in such a public and promotional manner. 

"There’s an indulgent, gross, and exploitative quality to this decision, where the promotion of the film relies on images of abuse," reporter Sasha James wrote. "With Mystique at the mercy of Apocalypse’s destructive will, this poster reinforces a narrative that commandeers and reduces women into a position of helplessness through violence."

A representative for 20th Century Fox apologized for the imagery in a statement to Time. 

“In our enthusiasm to show the villainy of the character Apocalypse we didn’t immediately recognize the upsetting connotation of this image in print form,” Fox said in a statement. “Once we realized that how insensitive it was, we quickly took steps to replace those materials. We apologize to anyone offended by our actions.”