Wyatt Russell has accepted his role as Marvel’s punching bag. The man behind the polarizing John Walker character on the Falcon and the Winter Soldier series on Disney Plus, the actor has received plenty of hate for portraying the man attempting to replace Steve Rogers as Captain America. Fan have had a difficult time separating the actor from the role itself, including sending death threats. This led many to believe that Russell deleted his social media to avoid these toxic fans. As it turns out, he may have not even seen these threats, as the man never had social media in the first place.
Appearing on the Rich Eisen Show, Wyatt was asked if these toxic comments upset him and pushed him off of social media:
“No. Somebody asked me that. I’ve never had… I don’t have social media. I’ve never had it.”
He goes on to talk about how people seem to have a hard time of differentiating between the fantasy world of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and reality. He doesn’t mind the hate for John Walker, that’s kind of the point. But the fact that some fans can’t seem to realize that Wyatt isn’t actually the character in real life is off putting, to say the least.
“All the ire and hate and whatever it is, I’d say like, ‘It’s okay, you can feel that way.’ I wouldn’t go too far with it. It’s still a movie. It’s fake. It’s a comic book and it’s a TV show. It’s not real. But it’s fun.”
It is good to know that Russell is taking this all in stride and that this didn’t force him off of social media. However, getting second hand accounts of this hate may be why he can handle it better than most. Had the man actually been on social media and witnessed this barrage of hate and disgust first hand, we might be telling a different story here. Hopefully there will come a day when toxic fans learn from the error of their ways and mature beyond this hatred. Let’s not hold our breath, though.
What do you think on Wyatt’s take on his haters? Let us know in the comments below!