SM has just announced the debut of a new group that consists of Taemin (Shinee), Kai (Exo), Baekhyun (Exo), Taeyong (Nct), Mark (Nct), Ten (Wayv), and Lucas (Wayv). The CEO claims that the group will be the Avengers of SM.

Wow, what an announcement. When the rumor was first released, it sounded a bit like the fantasy of an SM stan. But I guess who wouldn’t be a bigger fan of SM members than the CEO himself? After the rumor was released, an avalanche of hate and excitement poured into instagram comments and hashtag-ed tweets. (The hashtags were either #disbandsuperm or #supermdebutparty…as you can tell, fans were split.) A week after the rumor circulated, SM confirmed the creation of the debut, coupled with a new instagram page, twitter account (that I think got hacked), and teaser pics.

So, why the hate? If the members of these groups receive so much love, shouldn’t the group as well? Well, there’s a problem with this logic.

• EXO has for the past few years received startlingly little promotions and EXO members are starting to enlist in the military. EXO-Ls want Kai and Suho solos, they want an EXO world tour, and they want Baekhyun to rest because he just released and promoted his single album. Not only that, but they are upset that SM has never given EXO as much promotion in the Western market and is now using two EXO members in the new group. Also, SMTown has removed the instagram highlight for EXO.
• Shawols are upset because they wanted Taemin’s first entrance to the American market to either be as a solo or with Shinee. Oh yea, to add more spice to the SM life (should I trademark that), apparently this group is going to be marketed towards the US. SM has partnered with Capitol Records, a label that has houses and still has many boy bands, to promote Super M in America.
• Nctzens are upset because Mark and Taeyong, while very talented and deserving of recognition for their hard work, are the ones who get the most work to the point where Nctzens want SM to let them rest. Not only that, but the one American NCT member, Johnny, isn’t in the lineup for the group.
• Nctzens(although the fact that Wayv is a part of NCT is disputed heavily, they do not have a separate fandom name for now) are also concerned that Ten and Lucas will not be able to participate in Wayv activities, including their concert.
• Plus, many fans are commenting how this group seems to be SM’s way to battle BTS, which is hopefully not the case because of multiple factors. (I think I saw this on reddit: BTS did not get famous for being perfect, but rather for being imperfect and and working hard and spreading a message that resonated with fans.)

But anger is not the only feeling fans have. Many fans from the three fandoms also support the group.

• EXO-Ls want to support the group because even if Baekhyun and Kai were forced into it as some claim, they still worked hard to create something for their fans. SM is unlikely to disband the group after partnering with another company on this plan, so fans want to support the members even if their activities aren’t their ideal pick. (EXO-Ls are probably the most vocal fandom on this issue as of now.) Exo-SC and Baekhyun have just released albums and other members are enlisting in the military, so some fans think that maybe EXO activities were going to wind down anyways.
• SM group fans know that Kai and Taemin have been wanting to collaborate and are excited to see them work together. The recent SMTown concert saw a collaboration between Baekhyun and Mark, which made many fans excited. On top of that, Nctzens are excited to see the Taeten duo from “Baby Don’t Stop” reunite. In general, Wayv and NCT have had very little interaction after “Take Off,” so seeing members from each group together is exciting.

So…will the group flop? Maybe.

I think that SM has not completely screwed up their chances for now. The lineup is extremely strong, and there are still fans supporting the group (although many fanbases are not). If the songs are strong and have equal line distribution, I think it might work. The songs should still be mostly Korean, as releasing mostly English songs will probably not sit well with Kfans.

Honestly, I think that one of the only ways SM can save this group is if they let them self-produce. I know this sounds improbable, but in the RainbowV project, the members of Wayv decided on projects to work on. I think I heard on instagram that SM wants their artists to start projecting more of a self-producing image and I think this group would be the perfect way to create it. Like, what if the album had Kai’s “Confession” but with all the members?!! That would blow up. I think SM gets a (deservedly) bad rep for controlling their artists too much by overworking them and not letting them do what they want. If SM changes that attitude with Super M, I think this group will blow up. If not, I think this group will not be the “Avengers” that Sm is looking for.

Thanks for reading this article! Hopefully this was informative and fun to read. What are your thoughts? Comment down below, I would love to hear them.