Kit Connor, Charles Melton, Joseph Quinn — A24’s Warfare brought together some of the internet’s most beloved faces. But something didn't click.
Despite all the ingredients for a fan-favorite moment, Warfare’s promo tour hasn’t taken off the way A24 likely expected. Instead of generating excitement, much of the response online has been skeptical — even dismissive. And notably, the very audience the film appeared to be courting isn't responding well at all.
Marketed To The Wrong Audience?
It seems clear the film was marketed with younger and queer audiences in mind — or at least, that was the hope. The internet’s favorite “Twitter boyfriends”, such as Kit Connor, Charles Melton, Joseph Quinn and Will Poutler were front and center, and the promo leaned heavily on their visual appeal. But the assumption that queer audiences would automatically be drawn in just because of a kiss, some thigh tattoos, and a few flirty photos proved to be wildly out of touch. After all, this is a film about the Iraq War.
So the question rises: who on the marketing team genuinely believed this would work at all? Because yes, the queer community famously loves war movies and is famously passionate about the Iraq War. And of course, people who love war movies are also famously the type to fall for queerbaiting and... men kissing? It seems like they were trying to appeal to both military film fans and "gay Twitter," and it just didn't work.
When Things Got Weird
When the expected hype didn’t happen, things started to get even weirder. Suddenly, clips of Kit Connor and Charles Melton kissing appeared online, a moment that looked heavily staged and noticeably low on chemistry. One tweet joked that it looked like they were being electrocuted. Not exactly the internet-breaking moment the team might’ve hoped for. Then came the underwear photos: the entire main cast, posing in their briefs, proudly showing off matching thigh tattoos — as if doubling down on a vibe that had already missed. From the outside, it genuinely looked like they were promoting a gay romcom.
And once again, queer audiences weren’t amused. They were annoyed. The campaign was quickly labeled “cheap queerbaiting,” with users pointing out how uncomfortable it felt to lean into sexualized imagery and manufactured intimacy to promote a movie about war.
getting queerbaited by military propaganda is like losing chess to a rat https://t.co/pg1IHyfVUy
— Jordan (@Jordanbloked) April 3, 2025
The Challenge of Representing War on Screen
The film has been described as apolitical and aims to show the horrors of war. Critics love it so far, but how it lands with audiences remains to be seen.
To be fair, I don’t think we can judge the film just yet. It might offer more nuance than expected. But right now, people online are already calling it war propaganda — and that label is spreading fast. That’s partly because war movies told from an American perspective, with little to no representation of the people most affected — in this case, Iraqis, often come across as one-sided. Especially queer audiences seem to be more critical of political topics in media.
The Damage Might Already Be Done
For many, it feels genuinely off, even disturbing — to sexualize a promo tour for a movie about war. A war that killed an estimated 200,000 Iraqi civilians and 4,492 U.S. service members, great losses on both sides, and left entire communities grieving, displaced, and deeply traumatized. A war that still shapes lives, politics, and global memory. To take that context and package it in curated thirst traps, matching thigh tattoos, awkward on-screen kisses, and soft-touch promo videos — all in the hopes of going viral, doesn’t just feel wrong. It's tone-deaf and quite frankly ridiculous at best, and extremely offensive at worst. And that’s why, for many, it seems that Warfare has already lost them.
just dudes being guys with their matching iraq war propaganda tattoos https://t.co/D0u9yRQTQ4
— ijbol adjani (@MOULlNR0UGE) April 9, 2025
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