After being a fan of the DCEU since Day One, I can say one thing with absolute certainty. People love to hate DC. I have always strongly fought against the critics who gave the films low scores, such as the infamous Rotten Tomatoes. And I have had countless debates with those who spend their time trashing the DCEU and director Zack Snyder online and in real life. But a new breed of DC hater has emerged; the kind that makes up rumors about the DCEU and spreads them through fake news articles, all for the purpose of giving the films bad publicity.

I love the MCU dearly, but it seems to me that a large percentage of DC haters are hardcore Marvel fans. In a dream world, these two corporations could coexist. But the fan war continues every day. Perhaps it is the work dedicated Marvel fans who do not want competition, or maybe just classic internet trolls, but recently some confusing DCEU rumors have surfaced on the web.

A few days ago, I was scrolling through Instagram (where I get my daily intake of superhero news) and I saw a rumor stating that DC was going to create another cinematic universe, separate from the DCEU. I was in disbelief, because DC is only four films into their current universe, and starting another one would be unwise and confusing to the general public, not to mention inconsistent with all of the promoting they have been doing for the DCEU lately. I figured this was simply one of those rumors that would fade away, and soon nobody would care about it whatsoever.

But the next day, some more “news” dropped. According to dozens of headlines, Warner Brothers had a Joker origin film in the works, and it was under this new “DC banner” that exists separately from the DCEU. Fans of Jared Leto’s Joker in Suicide Squad were saddened. Haters of Leto’s Joker were pleased. But every DC fan was baffled at the notion of DC doing this. Since the meme-makers and hate-posters of the internet work faster than The Flash, DC was soon the butt of many jokes. All of a sudden, the haters were pointing their fingers at the DC fanbase and joking about how the DCEU is a failure, hilariously trying to start fresh with a brand new universe.

Then more “news” surfaced. Conveniently right after the news about there being a new Joker actor, it was apparently “confirmed” that Leto would be returning to the role of Joker in the upcoming DC films Gotham City Sirens,  Joker & Harley, and Suicide Squad 2. Keep in mind that Suicide Squad 2 is the only film out of those three that has even been somewhat confirmed by DC. Weird and illogical, right? Doesn’t sound like anything DC would do, right? Well they didn’t. There was absolutely no announcement of a new DC banner, a new Joker film, a new Joker actor, or a confirmed return of Jared Leto from DC or Warner Bros. Literally none of that was officially announced, and no person within those organizations said anything to spark these rumors. They were purely fictitious, yet they stirred up much debate within the superhero world.

DC was called a “mess” by many people, and even DC fans were stating how the DCEU does not have it together right now. Jokes were made about how Marvel is the perfect film universe, following through with all of their plans, while DC is the joke universe that makes dumb announcements left and right and never sticks to their plans. Yet DC did not do anything unusual or confusing; it was all the work of the haters. Then an additional story dropped. This one was at least partially based in fact, but I still think it is not coincidental that it started circulating the web on this particular day.

Matt Reeves, director of the Batman movie confirmed to be in development, stated in an interview at some point in time that his film would not be part of the DCEU. This just fed the fire that was already burning everything, and created even more ammo for people to use in anti-DC jokes. These remarks were especially confusing due to false rumors that circulated a few weeks prior about Ben Affleck not being involved in Matt Reeves’ film. Those rumors were publicly shut down by Affleck himself at SDCC, but that is a different story entirely.

Yesterday, Matt Reeves took to Twitter to clarify his statement. He explained that he had simply phrased his comments poorly, and the Batman movie would of course be part of the DCEU, but it would be highly focused on Batman, rather than filled with references and cameos of other DC properties, which is a smart move.

So as a fan of DC who looked closely enough to get the full facts, take it from me. All of the rumors that have circulated lately are false. DC is still kicking off its film universe, but it has been tremendously successful so far, and it is not changing. There is no new Joker film in the works, DC is not trying to make a new film universe with different actors, Ben Affleck will indeed be in Matt Reeves’ Batman film and it will be set in the DCEU, and whatever jokes you have heard about DC being a mess are provoked by haters spamming the internet with articles riddled with made-up information.

Hateful fake news aimed at the DCEU is becoming a pattern that I am not fond of. Before the release of the extremely successful Wonder Woman, everyone was panicking because of articles saying that viewers at early screenings found it to be a discombobulated hard-to-follow mess of a film that would ruin DC. But there were no such “early screenings” and the film was obviously nothing like what those articles described. Dozens of people literally took the time to write bad reviews for a film that they had not seen.

So the moral of the story is that there is a strong bias against the DCEU in the minds of film critics and certain Marvel fans. Some people, for whatever reason, find it necessary to bring down those who enjoy DC movies at whatever costs necessary. If you don’t believe there is a bias, remember that James Gunn stated that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 would not be part of the MCU (meaning the same thing as Matt Reeves) and not a soul decided to repost his words or make a fuss about it.

I will never understand the haters, so when it comes to “news” about the DCEU that does not quite add up, I will follow Bruce Wayne’s advice in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.

“Don’t believe everything you hear, son.”