Fox apologizes for X-Men: Apocalypse promo image of Jennifer Lawrence being strangled

Fox has apologized for a widely reviled promotional image for X-Men: Apocalypse, which shows Oscar Isaac's Apocalypse strangling Jennifer Lawrence's Mystique.

Actress Rose McGowan spoke about the image on her Facebook, and in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, she said, "There is no context in the ad, just a woman getting strangled. The fact that no one flagged this is offensive and frankly, stupid." She continued to challenge 20th Century Fox directly, asking, "Since you can't manage to put any women directors on your slate for the next two years, how about you at least replace your ad?"

Feminist site The Mary Sue also criticized the image saying, "This poster reinforces a narrative that commandeers and reduces women into a position of helplessness through violence."

Tristan Cassel / The Hollywood Reporter

In a statement to The Wrap this afternoon, Fox promised that the billboards had been taken down, and explained, "In our enthusiasm to show the villainy of the character Apocalypse we didn't immediately recognize the upsetting connotation of this image in print form."

Unfortunately, as is generally the case with complaints about media portrayals of women, a contingent of Twitter users were more outraged by the poster's backlash than by the poster itself. Some went so far as to say that violence against Jennifer Lawrence was actually a solid selling point for a movie. What a world we live in.

• SourceThe Wrap