Fandom activity of the Marvel transmedia phenomenon: A comparative analysis of Peruvian digital communities during the pandemic

The Marvel franchise is one of the most successful and prominent transmedia phenomena in the entertainment industry. Comics, series, video games and films have built a fictional world that has encouraged the consolidation of its fandom base with frequent activity in digital communities. The aim of this research is to explore changes in the activity of Marvel fandom within a context that has introduced variation in content production and dissemination, but especially in the daily lives of the franchise's fans. Thus, by using metric analysis of the activity of Peruvian digital communities, we have observed trends in behaviour, while topics that have driven fan conversations have been analysed through netnographic analysis. The findings point out that even though an increase in participation and a change in topics was expected, fan activity in digital communities tended to decrease, and the topics of conversation did not vary; in fact, current issues such as the health crisis were not discussed.