Martin Scorsese caused quite the stir last month when, during his promotional campaign for The Irishman, the legendary filmmaker spent much of his time criticising Marvel Studios and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, describing its output as “not cinema” and comparing it instead to theme park attractions.
While some of Scorsese’s contemporaries agreed his comments (see Francis Ford Copolla, who called Marvel movies “descipable”), many involved with the MCU – the likes of James Gunn, Joss Whedon, Samuel L. Jackson and Robert Downey Jr. – all spoke up in defence of Marvel, and now studio head Kevin Feige has weighed in with his own opinion on the matter.
“I think that’s not true”, said Feige. “I think it’s unfortunate. I think myself and everyone who works on these movies loves cinema, loves movies, loves going to the movies, loves to watch a communal experience in a movie theater full of people. We did Civil War. We had our two most popular characters get into a very serious theological and physical altercation. We killed half of our characters at the end of [Avengers: Infinity War]. I think it’s fun for us to take our success and use it to take risks and go in different places.”
“Everybody has a different definition of cinema. Everybody has a different definition of art. Everybody has a different definition of risk. Some people don’t think it’s cinema. Everybody is entitled to their opinion. Everyone is entitled to repeat that opinion. Everyone is entitled to write op-eds about that opinion, and I look forward to what will happen next. But in the meantime, we’re going to keep making movies.”
So, clearly Kevin Feige isn’t concerned by Scorsese’s opinion, and is instead simply focussing on the wealth of movies (and Disney+ TV shows) that Marvel has on its upcoming slate between now and 2023.
