‘The Lone Ranger’ Poster Shows That The Movie Should Have Been Called ‘Tonto’

Finally, The Lone Ranger trailer is set to premiere just scant hours from now. Leading up to the premiere have been a handful of official images and a teaser poster. There’s just one minor problem: Disney probably just should have called the film Tonto after Johnny Depp’s character.

Though the images, which you can see here, hint that The Lone Ranger will be what Zap2it calls “an epic Western with an irreverent vibe,” they seem to speak to the deep bromance between Johnny Depp and his Pirates of the Caribbean collaborator Gore Verbinski (who is also the director of Lone Ranger). The images and the poster focus so much on Tonto that the only reasonable question we could ask after seeing them is, “who’s Johnny Depp’s sidekick?”

Now before a few trolls flame me and turn this article’s comment section into a huge sociopolitical debate about Native Americans, their portrayal in film, and general injustice/bigotry on my part, this isn’t a statement on any of those things.

It’s about marketing.

Though we knew for some time that the movie will be told from the perspective of Tonto, the Lone Ranger’s companion played by Johnny Depp, it seems “pretty telling,” to borrow MTV News‘ wording, that a film that’s more “Tonto” than “Lone Ranger” should just be called Tonto. Why would it be called The Lone Ranger and not even feature the titular character on the film’s poster? Sure, Armie Hammer is still kind of a nobody, and most people will wonder what “his twin” is up to these days after seeing the film, but couldn’t Disney have called the movie Tonto or The Lone Ranger:Tonto’s Story or something? I’d still know that the movie is about The Lone Ranger story, but with a fun twist. I’d still go see it.

In any case, here’s the Tonto… I’m sorry… The Lone Ranger poster. Are you excited for the trailer?