Every few months, a “serious” director comes out and says something negative about the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Either the movies are terrible and they’re ruining the business, or they would never make one of those trashy movies or the films are disposable and don’t leave an impact. The latest auteur to make his unwanted opinion known is Quentin Tarantino. During an appearance on the 2 Bears, 1 Cave podcast, the Jackie Brown director said, “Part of the Marvel-ization of Hollywood is…you have all these actors who have become famous playing these characters. But they’re not movie stars. Right? Captain America is the star. Or Thor is the star. I mean, I’m not the first person to say that. I think that’s been said a zillion times…but it’s like, you know, it’s these franchise characters that become a star.”
These are the comments of someone who just wants to stir up controversy. I find it hard to believe that a filmmaker, who’s known for his unique stories and scripts, doesn’t understand that there’s more to these characters than just putting on a costume. It absolutely matters who is cast in these roles, as you can see how audiences react every time someone new joins the franchise. Case in point, look how excited we all were to hear that Jonathan Majors would be playing Kang throughout the Multiverse Saga.
One of the MCU’s biggest stars, who is also a frequent Tarantino collaborator, had some thoughts on his comments. Nick Fury himself, Samuel L. Jackson, responded to the Pulp Fiction director’s remarks during an appearance on The View on Tuesday.
“It takes an actor to be those particular characters,” Jackson said. “And the sign of movie stardom has always been, what, asses in seats? What are we talking about?”
“So, it’s not a big controversy for me to know that, well, apparently, these actors are movie stars,” he added. “Chadwick Boseman is Black Panther. You can’t refute that. And he’s a movie star.”
As The Piano Lesson star stated, if the sign of a real movie star is getting people in the door, then the actors of the MCU have accomplished that. The franchise has a domestic box office gross of $11 billion.
Quentin Tarantino is welcome to his opinion, but maybe he—and other so-called high-brow directors—can just relax and let fans like what they like without shitting all over it.