John McTiernan says superhero movies are "made by fascists"

John McTiernan says superhero movies are “made by fascists”

July 13th 2016, 9:31am

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

Superhero movies aren’t everyone’s cup of tea. I get that. When they’re good they’re bold, funny, exciting, smart, engaging and iconic. When they’re bad it seems like it’s the worst thing ever to happen to mankind. However, one famous director, John McTiernan, has gone ahead and just put the whole genre in the latter category, and talking about them in a way I’ve never heard before (outside a circle of dissenting hipsters, that is).

In an interview with France’s Premiere (Google translated from by The Playlist) McTiernan aggressively went after superhero films saying, "…these are films made by fascists," and disses one Marvel hero in general.

That’s right.

Captain America…The cult of American hyper-masculinity is one of the worst things that has happened in the world during the last fifty years. Hundreds of thousands of people died because of this stupid illusion. So how is it possible to watch a movie called Captain America?

My God. One of the worst things that has happened to the world in the last fifty years? You know that timeline includes the Vietnam War, 9/11 AND The Kardashians, right? But no, a dude in a spangled outfit whipping a magic shield at a dude with a mangled red face is clearly worse. And Thor? Might as well be AIDS incarnate.

He added that, "Comic book heroes are for businesses." By that, I think he means that they're made for profit, which is a silly argument. Aren’t all major movies made for profit? Would DIE HARD, or many of McTiernan’s movies, have been made had the studio not thought they would make money doing it? The only way to make a movie with no profit in mind is go out into the woods and screen what you shoot in your basement to a room of stuffed animals.

Whatever, I guess. He’s entitled to his opinion and as the director of DIE HARD he will always get a pass. Granted, this is the man who in the same man said, “pfff…corporate product,” when asked about MAD MAX: FURY ROAD. He made DIE HARD, *takes a deep breath and exhales*, he made DIE HARD.