10 Actors & Directors That Criticized The MCU (& How Valid Their Complaints Are)

James Cameron is returning to theaters this Christmas with his sequel to Avatar. While it has taken him 13 years to get the sequel into theaters, the world of cinema has become populated with a huge amount of comic book movies. With the massive success of these superhero efforts comes a lot of criticism from people inside the business.

Cameron is one of the many industry people who have dismissed movies by Marvel and DC. These directors and actors often look to more serious movies, as well as classic cinema history, as a reason to slam the movies that dominate the box office now. However, it’s hard to tell how real and valid these complaints are in the long term.

Martin Scorsese

Martin Scorsese seemed to open the floodgates when it comes to dismissing comic book movies as a lesser form of entertainment. When talking to Empire, Scorsese said that “Honestly, the closest I can think of them, as well made as they are, with actors doing the best they can under the circumstances, is theme parks.” Scorsese also said he hasn’t been able to watch any of them in full.

With this statement, he is right. Comic book movies, specifically in the MCU, are often seen as theme park rides. They offer highs and lows and usually end with a triumphant battle to send viewers home happy. However, he was off base with his comment that “It isn’t the cinema of human beings trying to convey emotional, psychological experiences to another human being.” Anyone who watched Black Panther or Avengers: Endgame knows they deliver as much emotion as any movie.

Francis Ford Coppola

While Martin Scorsese was mostly kind when talking about the people making comic book movies, one of his contemporaries was not. Godfather director Francis Ford Coppola said the movies are “despicable.” According to Coppola, “Marvel pictures are not cinema, [Scorsese’s] right because we expect to learn something from cinema, we expect to gain something, some enlightenment, some knowledge, some inspiration.”

This was a bit insulting for anyone who makes Marvel movies and believe they are making something important. Someone like Ryan Coogler put a lot of work into making his Black Panther movies have a deeper meaning. For those filmmakers to hear one of their own dismissing their work has to be discouraging.

Ethan Hawke

Ethan Hawke appeared in a Marvel property, taking on the villain role in Moon Knight. However, he understands where Scorsese and Coppola are coming from. He told Indiewire it is “the elder statesmen of the [film] community reminding people not to set the bar too low.”

For Hawke, it was all about where the money for future films will go. He admitted that these movies have their audience. However, if they are all people want to review and talk about, no one will make the next Winter Light or Fanny and Alexander. It is important to remember to recommend serious movies as well as fun ones.

Mickey Rourke

Like Ethan Hawke, Mickey Rourke also appeared in an MCU property, taking on the role of Whiplash in Iron Man 2. Also, like Hawke, Rourke had some pointed things to say about comic book movies after his experience. In a social media post, Rourke talked highly of some actors, and then finished by writing, “Respect to all of you, the work that you all do is real acting, not like that crap that all on Marvel sh*t.”

While many of the people who dismiss Marvel movies do so out of their respect for cinema, it seems Rourke has bad feelings about his personal experience. He was in one of the MCU’s worst-rated movies and his character was considered one of the worst. According to Rourke, he wanted to add layers to Whiplash, but the MCU cut it all out of the movie.

Simon Pegg

Simon Pegg has appeared in several geek-friendly movies, including a zombie comedy and another movie where he had to help an alien. However. when it comes to Marvel movies, Pegg told the Radio Times said the comic book movies took the “focus away from real-world issues.” He also said it “infantilized” the audience.

This is an argument that comes up a lot, and one that former comic book creator Alan Moore brings up. While there are important issues in movies like Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, the outcomes are not realistically possible. Pegg did take on a role in The Boys, a Prime Video comic book series, but the thought that comic book movies don’t approach real-world issues in realistic ways is a solid argument against the genre.

Sean Penn

When discussing MCU movies at the Cannes Film Festival, Sean Penn was not impressed. The actor called them “razzle-dazzle, Cirque de Soleil movies.” He also said that too many talented people have taken too much time making comic book movies.

Penn is right in both of his criticisms but also dismisses another area of comic book movies. These are spectacle movies, as both Martin Scorsese and Simon Pegg explained. They also have some of the world’s best actors taking on multi-film roles when they could be in more serious fare. However, like the others who dismiss the movies, Penn sorely underestimates the worth and emotional aspects of the stories told in these movies.

Jason Statham

Jason Statham is an actor who has made a living starring in fast-paced action movies. There is little difference between his movies and superhero movies, other than the fact that he doesn’t have superpowers in his movies. However, he said anyone can be a superhero, and he doesn’t want that for himself.

In an interview with I 400 Calci, Statham said that his grandmother could play a superhero with green screens behind her. This is a good argument, and when it comes to Statham’s fight-based action movies, it makes sense. However, he also appeared in a movie where he fought a giant megalodon.

Jodie Foster

Jodie Foster agreed with Martin Scorsese that Marvel movies are more like theme parks. However, she also veered very close to Coppola’s thoughts as well. She told the Radio Times in an interview that studios make “bad content” to make money, but it “is like fracking — you get the best return right now, but you wreck the earth.”

Once again, this comes too close to hearing an actor insult and dismiss her contemporaries. While this is Foster’s opinion, she seems to be telling people like Robert Redford and Michael Douglass that they are appearing in bad movies because they are based on comic books. It is also important to know that studios making a lot of money means more movies can be made, not the other way around.

Stephen Dorff

Actor Stephen Dorff didn’t hold back on his criticism of the Marvel movies. The actor said he was embarrassed that Scarlett Johansson starred in Black Widow, telling the Independent it “looks like garbage to me. It looks like a bad video game.”

Dorff said that he wouldn’t star in a comic book movie, even if he was paid $5 million. He then said he would rather find a kid who was the next Stanley Kubrick to work with. While this is his option, he seems to be forgetting one big thing. He starred as the villain in a Marvel comic book movie Blade, opposite Wesley Snipes.

James Cameron

James Cameron was the most recent director to dismiss Marvel movies. While he has spent most of the last decade working on his science fiction movies in the Avatar franchise, he doesn’t seem impressed with the movies that threatened to topple his film from the top spot in box office history.

“When I look at these big, spectacular films — I’m looking at you, Marvel and DC — it doesn’t matter how old the characters are, they all act like they’re in college,” Cameron said via Variety. Whether this is true or not, Cameron has made movies about killer robots traveling through time and blue aliens flying in 3D spectacles. James Cameron is the master of the spectacle movie and is the last person one would expect to dismiss other sci-fi action movies, even if they are based on comics.

NEXT: MCU: Every Phase 4 Release So Far, Ranked According To Rotten Tomatoes