Netflix
Netflix is receiving backlash for how its promoting its 'Monster' anthology series
Netflix is promoting its Monster anthology series — which dramatizes real serial killers including Jeffrey Dahmer, the Menendez brothers, Ed Gein, and Lizzie Borden — with franchise-style marketing that’s drawing criticism for glamorizing violent crime.
Netflix teased the next installment in its Monster anthology series — Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story — with the tagline “Get ready to meet the next monster,” treating the series about real criminals like character reveals in a superhero show.
Netflix is being called out for marketing the latest entry in its Monster anthology series, a show about serial killers, as if it were the MCU
The promotional video uses dramatic stylized portraits and title cards to recap past seasons, then reveals the Lizzie Borden chapter in intense red tones. Social media users called out the approach as marketing the series as if it’s the “serial killer MCU.”
They’re making a serial killer mcu we have truly lost our damn minds https://t.co/wHiXZnwvf4
— NoVa (@Digitald3vils) September 15, 2026
“Stop treating serial killers like MCU characters u f—— weirdos,” scolded a tweet with over 284,000 likes and 6.5 million views (at the time of this writing).
“Edited like a fighting game DLC announcement,” a second viral tweet read.
Imagine seeing ur relatives killer get a title card like invincible breh https://t.co/N7uW1JQNBx
— L (@Patrickmuweng3) September 16, 2026
There is something so deeply sickening about true crime content. Like why does netflix have a serial killer cinematic universe https://t.co/joxtF5580G
— fudgesquared//DKTRPEACE (@insanenredacted) September 15, 2026
n aguento o anúncio de série nova de serial killer como se fosse um herói novo do mcu https://t.co/Nyv6uEdmPd
— caiozito (@milanastri) September 16, 2026
It’s not as though Netflix is incapable of making a mature series about the subject matter, as Mindhunter is widely considered to be the gold standard of the genre.
The difference between the acclaimed David Fincher-helmed series and Netflix’s Monster franchise — even calling the series a “franchise” feels gross — is that one approach treats the killers as subjects for examination while the other uses them as entertainment properties.
Lizzie Borden, who will be portrayed in the series b Ella Beatty), was tried and acquitted of the 1892 axe murders of her father and stepmother in Fall River, Massachusetts. In addition to Beaty, Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story also stars Vicky Krieps, Charlie Hunnam, Rebecca Hall, Jessica Barden, Joey Pollari, Billie Lourd and Sarah Paulson, and releases on Netflix on Thursday, September 17.