Over the last year or two, as Marvel films have been at their lowest in critical and fan success, some big names in Hollywood have spoken out against the validity of the superhero film genre as a whole.
The likes of iconic directors like Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola doled out their opinions, with Scorsese sharing his long-held opinion that “superhero-driven IP franchises are dangerous to film culture.”
Coppola said the genre was “despicable,” and he said that Scorsese was “right” when he said Marvel movies are “not cinema” and questioned whether “anyone gets anything out of seeing the same movie over and over again.”
Actor Chris Hemsworth has been playing the character Thor since 2011, and he has responded to the criticism in an interview with The Times, saying, “It felt harsh, and it bothers me, especially from heroes. It was an eye-roll for me, people bashing the superhero space.”
Hemsworth, who played the God of Thunder across the MCU, said that everyone experiences downturns in the industry, adding, “Those guys had films that didn’t work too — we all have. When they talked about what was wrong with superheroes, I thought, cool, tell that to the billions who watch them. Were they all wrong?”
He went on:
“Cinema-going did not change because of superheroes, but because of smartphones and social media. Superhero films actually kept people in the cinemas during that transition, and now people are coming back. So they deserve a little more appreciation.”
The Australian actor also pushed back on actors who have talked negatively about their experience shooting superhero films.
“It’s, like, ‘They’re films that are successful — put me in one. Oh, mine didn’t work? I’ll bash them. Look, I grew up on a soap opera. And it used to bother me when actors would later talk about the show with guilt or shame. Humility goes a long way. One of the older actors on ‘Home and Away’ said, ‘We don’t get paid to make the good lines sound good, but to make the bad ones work.’ That stuck with me.”
He continued, “But hey, it’s all a lesson. And if I ever went back to [Thor] I’d wonder how we could change it again. But there is a superhero curse in the sense you get pigeonholed, and I’ve felt a little hamstrung with what I could do, so [I] desperately wanted something to scare the shit out of me. And Furiosa did.”
For now, we don’t know if we will see Hemsworth back as the God of Thunder, but we will see him as Dr. Dementus in Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga later this month on May 24th.
He will also voice Optimus Prime in the animated movie Transformers: One in theatres on September 20th. He is also in early development on a Hulk Hogan biopic, in which he will play the iconic pro wrestler.
