Why are Marvel stars so sensitive to criticism?

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Simu Liu attends the Toronto premiere of “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” at Shangri-La… [+] Hotel on September 1, 2021 in Toronto, Ontario. (Photo by Ryan Emberley/Getty Images for Disney)

Getty Images for Disney

Shang-Chi star Simu Liu sparked a backlash on Twitter after his defensive response to Quentin Tarantino’s comments on a podcast, in which Tarantino laments the Marvelization of Hollywood.

Tarantino is the latest director to criticize the MCU’s monolithic dominance; Appearing on the 2 Bears, 1 Cave podcast, the director pointed out that traditional movie stars are dying out and being replaced by franchise characters. Tarantino said:

Part of the Marvelization of Hollywood is that you have all these actors who rose to fame playing these characters. But they are not movie stars. Right? Captain America is the star. Where Thor is the Star It’s these franchise characters who become a star.

Note that Tarantino isn’t really attacking Marvel movies, just pointing out that IP has eclipsed big-name actors, which is hardly a controversial observation. Marvel star Anthony Mackie (who plays the Falcon) made the exact same point during an interview at London Comic-Con 2018, saying:

There are no more movie stars. For example, Anthony Mackie is not a movie star. The Falcon is a movie star. And that’s what’s weird.

Marvel movies have become a tedious topic of discussion in interviews with Hollywood celebrities, as one mildly incendiary soundbite can fuel an entire news cycle, inevitably prompting defensive responses from Marvel actors and directors. Liu is the latest MCU star to take the bait, writing on Twitter:

If the only gatekeepers to movie stardom were Tarantino and Scorsese, I would never have had the opportunity to direct a $400 million+ movie. I am in awe of their cinematic genius. They are transcendent authors. But they can’t point their noses at me or anyone.

Liu highlighted the progress made in on-screen diversity to defend the MCU, writing:

I loved the Golden Age too… but it was white as hell.

Moviegoers on Twitter couldn’t bring themselves to take Liu seriously.

Others pointed out that Marvel took a long time to prioritize diversity (the original Avengers cast are all white) and pointed to Martin Scorses’ efforts to preserve global cinema.

The MCU debate is tediously familiar to any movie fan, as the topic resurfaces with alarming regularity. Superhero movies, especially Marvel movies, have become something of a shorthand for generic blockbusters, much like the Transformers franchise.

Legendary director Martin Scorsese once described the MCU as not being cinema and compared superhero movies to theme parks, sparking some kind of controversy. Later, Scorsese clarified his comments, citing the MCU as an example of the creeping homogenization of cinema, a Disney-branded juggernaut pushing independent films out of the spotlight.

Scorsese, who has done an incredible job of preserving the films, seems to have really touched a nerve with Marvel’s biggest names and staunchest fans, who insist on taking his comments as a personal attack, rather than criticism. of the current state of cinema.

Many of Marvels biggest names had a sort of defensive response to Scorses’ comments. Chris Evans (Captain America) said: It’s like saying a certain kind of music isn’t music. Who are you to say that? Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury) said not everyone likes [Scorseses] neither do the movies.

Avengers and Age of Ultron director Joss Whedon tweeted: I worship Marty, and I see what he means, but there’s a reason I’m still mad. Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn said: [Scorsese] just kept coming out against Marvel so he could get the press for his movie. He’s creating his movie in the shadow of the Marvel movies, and so he’s using it to draw attention to something that he wasn’t getting as much attention as he wanted.

Disney CEO Bob Iger called Scorses’ comments mean and unfair to the people making the movies.

Mark Ruffalo, who plays the Hulk in the MCU, had the most insightful response to the controversy, correctly identifying that Scorses’ problem isn’t specifically with Marvel, but the market is distorting the art form. Ruffalo said:

If we lived in a world where economics is how we measure the value of a society, then yes, whoever does the greatest thing will dominate. They will try to keep doing it over and over again. In this article [Scorsese] says something really interesting, and I would like him to carry it through to the end. He said, I’m not suggesting that we subsidize films. But that’s exactly what he suggests. We should have a national arts endowment that gives money to another kind of cinema and supports another kind of cinema.

In the aforementioned podcast interview, Tarantino went on to say that he would have enjoyed the MCU a lot if he was still a young man and an avid comic book collector, but he is concerned that Marvel is managing to dominate the culture. pop. discussion, to the detriment, finally, of everything else:

Look, I used to collect Marvel comics like crazy when I was a kid, he said. There’s an aspect that if these movies came out when I was in my twenties, I would be totally happy and I would totally love them. But, you know, I’m almost 60, so yeah. No, I’m not as excited about them. My only ax to grind against them is that they are the only things that seem to be done. And those are the only things that seem to generate any sort of excitement among a fanbase or even the studio that makes them.

Tarantino is (gently) criticizing the MCU, but he doesn’t seem to be doing it in bad faith. His concerns are legitimate, and the fact that his comments could inspire so many headlines, and a direct response from Liu, proves it; Marvel always gets incredible attention, even if it’s always the same story, regurgitated over and over again.

Marvel films still dominate the box office and receive generous ratings from film critics; Given the incredible strength and influence of the franchise, it’s a bit of a mystery why Marvel stars feel the need to champion the MCU with such passion.

After all, they have already won.

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