Two websites with modern-day messages have cropped up in support of Fox’s
X-Men movie franchise. Of course, it’s all a bit strange as the next team movie,
X-Men: Apocalypse takes place in the 80s, pre-dating the modern worldwide web. Of course, a similar campaign was used for the 1970s-placed
X-Men: Days of Future Past, so it all works here. While the marketing may have links to the upcoming movie, it launches now to come in conjunction with the most recent film's digital release (yesterday) and upcoming DVD/Blu-ray release.
The two sites, Tandem Initiative and M-Underground have very different tones, though on the surface they’re both designed to help Mutants.
M-Underground has a mission statement across the top: “Our goal is simple: to expose those who wish to create a rift between humans and the genetically gifted. We will not let our world be torn apart with misinformation. The only “mutant threat” is that which threatens mutants. The truth will be heard. It will be heard here.”
The site then displays their evidence that Ted Kennedy is a mutant, with proof of his injuries in a 1964 plane crash healing remarkably fast. They say “his brother was assassinated for being a mutant,” and hacked the files from TandemNET, the other site in question. They also offer proof that he was going to come out as a mutant in 1978, but “something stopped him.”
More damning from the site is the video they say is hacked propaganda from Tandem’s site. Tandem, again, presents themselves outwardly as working for the future of mutants, but the video tells another story about Homo Sapiens Superior.
As for Tandem’s own site? They want people to submit pictures and descriptions of themselves using their mutant abilities (and yes, you can actually do this, in a real contest that Fox is running). The story reason could be an attempt to catalog mutants. While Fox officially says this is in support of Days of Future Past, this quote from the video has us thinking into the future:
"Homo Sapiens Superior are here. they will be the survivors. They will be the champions. Evolution demands the eradication of the weak."
That sure sounds a lot like Apocalypse's darwinian "only the strong will survive" credo, now doesn't it?
Sites: http://tandeminitiative.com/