Let’s Talk About Speculation

I’m of two minds on this: Obviously speculation can be a good thing because it motivates fans to have their drive for their favorite hero/villain/franchise. It drives fanart like the one of David Tennant as the Riddler and such.

BUT…

There are some media outlets who like to sensationalize speculation to the point where some people question if it’s real. I’m obviously aware of the people who need to sell advertising space on the Internet and such. But I’m talking about headlines like “David Tennant as the Riddler” and then you click on it and it’s a speculation piece.

Then there’s the speculation about the Marvel Cinematic Universe and while I’m all for that (again it drives the conversation), Marvel is a lot better about reigning it in as far as speculation is concerned.

Most of the time, Kevin Feige is pretty quick to shoot down any speculation. Now I understand that once a movie is released, some speculation is to be had. Such as when everyone was debating what timeline that Captain America was in before he gave up the mantle. (I was right about that by the way. YAY TIME TRAVEL.)

But to sensationalize the speculation before news is announced is incredibly misleading. It’s part of the reason I don’t give credence to specific articles until they are confirmed by the director, the head of MCU, or by the actors themselves.

With Crisis on Infinite Earths coming to the Arrowverse soon, I have noticed the ramping up of speculation of who’s going to be in it, even outside of the trailer. I like speculation, but maybe news outlets should frame it as such?