Quentin Tarantino says superheroes are the stars of Marvel movies, not the actors

Last Updated on November 28, 2022

After digging deeper into his distaste for Marvel movies, Quentin Tarantino will need a new shovel. After telling the Los Angeles Times you “need to be a hired hand” to direct an installment of the MCU and saying, “the current era of movies is one of the worst ever,” Tarantino is back with another gear to grind about superhero cinema. Speaking with the 2 Bears, 1 Cave podcast, the filmmaker said movie stars are losing themselves to the “Marvel-ization of Hollywood.”

“Part of the Marvel-ization of Hollywood is…you have all these actors who have become famous playing these characters,” Tarantino posited. “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.”

Before you start flipping tables, Tarantino needs people to understand that he doesn’t hate the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He simply thinks Iron Man (a C-level character re-introduced in Jon Favreau’s Iron Man) is the real star, not Robert Downey Jr. “I’m not even putting them down frankly, to tell you the truth,” Tarantino said about genuine movie stars becoming a rarity in modern times. “But that is one of the — the legacy of the Marvel-ization of Hollywood movies.”

Not wanting to be misunderstood, Tarantino says he understands the allure of Marvel. “Look, I used to collect Marvel comics like crazy when I was a kid,” Tarantino said. “There’s an aspect that if these movies were coming out when I was in my twenties, I would totally be fucking happy and totally love them. I mean, they wouldn’t be the only movies being made. They would be those movies amongst other movies. But, you know, I’m almost 60, so yeah. No, I’m not quite as excited about them.”

“My only axe to grind against them is they’re the only things that seem to be made,” Tarantino griped. “And they’re the only things that seem to generate any kind of excitement amongst a fan base or even for the studio making them. That’s what they’re excited about. And so it’s just the fact that they are the entire representation of this era of movies right now. There’s not really much room for anything else. That’s my problem.”

What do you think about Quentin Tarantino’s comments regarding superhero cinema? Is he right about Hollywood’s current pattern, or is he upset he has to work harder for a piece of the action? It could be both. Please let us know what you think in the comments.