The Writer's Guild Strike of 2023 has been in effect for two days now, and already, the hot takes have been blistering.

While one Twitter user has opined that the strike will lead to the deaths of Americans deprived of fresh content, another user has seemingly bemoaned the effect it will have on the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), writing "greedy writers' profits aren't worth as much as the joy superheroes bring to people all over the world."

While these takes are maddening to those supporting workers, it's plausible to assume the latter example is satire.

In a series of tweets yesterday, Twitter user Brad Troemel posted several pictures of MCU superheroes looking very sad overlaid with the hashtag "#EndUnionGreed." One features Iron Man standing nobly in a sea of protestors holding signs that read "We want free stuff" and "Me first!" Another shows Black Panther behind bars captioned, "We Shall Overcome."

Considering the hyperbolic tenor of some fearing the effect a writer's strike will have on entertainment and Marvel fans' tendency to get a little cringey at times, many took Troemel's tweets at face value and blasted him for insensitivity.

While the thread infuriated many, others noted that it's highly probable the whole thing is an elaborate troll. That's because Brad Troemel is himself a documented internet troll.

Troemel is an artist who came to prominence in the mid-2010s for his Tumblr site The Jogging, which focused on post-internet art. He has long been posting art and memes that tread the line of Poe's Law, and once went viral for posting a satirical campaign ad for Joe Biden with the winning slogan, "His brain? No, his heart."

With this in mind, it's highly probable that the MCU posts are additions to Troemel's oeuvre of "weapons-grade liberal cringe," as he's called it in the past. In case you come across it in the wild over the next few days and feel the urge to grab a digital pitchfork, know that it's almost assuredly satire.