Marvel Studios is arguably the biggest film studio on Planet Earth right now. There is no one and I repeat no one that can match the scope of the MCU. The fan following, the number of movies and the box office dominance all points towards MCU’s success. It all started in 2008 with RDJ’s Iron Man since then Kevin Feigi and company changed the entire landscape of Hollywood as Superhero movies that were once considered a niche suddenly became mainstream. The 11 years of build-up was all supposed to culminate with Avengers: Endgame and it did however, after that Marvel started a new saga that has been a hit or miss, mostly a miss. However, after the MCU’s unseen success every studio wanted to replicate it and hence everyone got sucked in to the new Superhero trend.
While everyone was happy to see this new Hollywood as it was about their childhood heroes come to life but the veterans of the industry soon identified the existence of MCU as a problem. In 2019, Martin Scorsese talked about how he finds all Marvel films as he doesn’t finds them as real art and they’re adventure park movies. At the time, I was petrified at Scorsese but soon I got the maturity of what he was trying to say and soon after that I switched sides as I too faced the Superhero movies fatigue. After Scorsese many other industry greats like Francis Ford Coppola and James Cameron stepped into the fire where they shot arrows at Marvel. There was some retaliation from Marvel as well like when James Gunn took a shot at Scorsese for bad mouthing Marvel.
The most recent addition to this Marvel vs Real Art debate was Quentin Tarantino as he talked about what his problem with Marvel is. As usual Tarantino made logical points and I agreed with him until I heard Marvel’s answer to it. Shang Chi actor Simu Liu retaliated Tarantino’s comments, let’s see what did he say.
Shang Chi – Simu Liu Makes A Logical Argument?
Tarantino recently appeared on the podcast 2 Bears, 1 Podcast via Mediaite where he was asked about Marvel and superhero movies in general and was is his take on them. Tarantino in his own style gave an extremely blunt and rough but true outlook on Marvel films. The Django Unchained director said,
“Look, I used to collect Marvel comics like crazy when I was a kid,” Tarantino said. “There’s an aspect that if these movies were coming out when I was in my 20s, I would totally be fucking happy and totally love them. I mean, they wouldn’t be the only movies being made. They would be those movies amongst other movies. But, you know, I’m almost 60, so yeah. No, I’m not quite as excited about them.”
He continued, “My only axe to grind against them is they’re the only things that seem to be made. And they’re the only things that seem to generate any kind of excitement amongst a fanbase or even for the studio making them. That’s what they’re excited about. So it’s just the fact that they are the entire representation of this era of movies right now. There’s not really much room for anything else. That’s my problem.”
I’ve come across this news a few days ago and like the other veteran directors I agreed with Tarantino simply because of the number of Superhero films that we’re getting these days. There too many and all of them are extremely mediocre. It breaks my heart that a film like Thor: Love and Thunder is made on a massive budget of $250 Million while there are several filmmakers who have brilliant scripts which will probably won’t see the light of day. Which is what I think Tarantino’s problem is as well.
Imagine someone like Scorsese who has made so many masterpieces had to wait years to get The Irishman financed, while MCU continued to make lackluster movies without any hiccups really talks about the state of the industry. However, it appears that there is an other side to this argument as well. Unlike James Gunn, Shang Chi actor Simu Liu hasn’t directly attacked Scorsese or Tarantino rather he has laid down a much deeper argument that I believe makes sense. I’m not taking sides but I actually understand what Simu Liu is trying to say.
The actor said,
I believe this is very true. There may be a million problems with the MCU but the point of representation still stands as because of Marvel’s reach they can easily now take risks and include many more races as leading faces in their films which is something Hollywood never did in what was called the golden age. This is something that we need to understand there is a logical point to each side and not blindly take one’s side and badmouth the other. I’d like to see if Tarantino answers Simu Liu because that I might lead to an even interesting conversation.
MCU’s newest film Antman and the Wasp: Quantumania will release in theatres near you on 17th February 2023.
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