This standoff does not seem to be ending anytime soon.
Legendary director Quentin Tarantino has once again taken a swipe at Marvel Studios. This time, Tarantino is questioning the stardom of the Marvel actors.
“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,” Tarantino said in a podcast interview with Tom Segura for his podcast 2 Bears, 1 Cave.
The iconic director was quick to note that he “doesn’t hate” Marvel movies, but he’s “not quite as excited about them” as he would be if they were a part of his 20s.
Tarantino’s hot take on Marvel is certainly not his first (he himself noted that he has said it “like a zillion times”), but it seems that a lot of people agree with him on this one.
“He’s 100% right, not to say the Marvel actors/actresses are bad, but when I went to see Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, it wasn’t for Tenoch Huerta, Letitia Wright, Angela Bassett, Martin Freeman or anyone else — it was to see Black Panther and the MCU story evolve,” Twitter user ghost_motley said.
But even among those willing to side with Tarantino, there is an opinion that at least one Marvel actor is a star in his own right: In his case, it was the actor who made the character famous, not the other way around.
Of course, there were many Marvel fans who disagreed with Tarantino – and some Marvel stars too. Shang-Chi actor Simu Liu was quick to respond to the Pulp Fiction director.
“If the only gatekeepers to movie stardom came from Tarantino and Scorsese, I would never have had the opportunity to lead a $400 million plus movie,” Liu said.
Martin Scorcese is another iconic American director who is not afraid to occasionally shade the MCU movies.
However, Tarantino seems to have a point, even if many people don’t think it’s a bad thing that comic book characters are more popular than the actors who portray them.
“We should be wanting actors who portray the Character best, not just some dude who got the job because he has a more popular name,” Twitter user myerscb noted.
After all, Marvel provides a great opportunity for actors to rise to fame and actually become stars, not necessarily limited to their superhero personas.
