Chris Hemsworth is still angry that his lifelong “heroes” have publicly bashed comic book movies.
The Marvel actor already addressed both Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino last year for their negative views on the comic book movie genre and added Francis Ford Coppola to the list in an interview with The Times published over the weekend.
“It felt harsh,” Chris said about the directors’ comments. “And it bothers me, especially from heroes.”
“It was an eye-roll for me, people bashing the superhero space,” he continued.
“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?”
Marvel has grossed more than $29 billion at the worldwide box office since Iron Man kicked off its “cinematic universe” in 2008.
Chris, who has starred in eight Marvel films since 2011, is nonetheless frustrated by the notion that comic book movie dominance is a bad thing.
“Cinema-going did not change because of superheroes, but because of smartphones and social media,” Chris argued during the interview, which was pubished on Sunday. “Superhero films actually kept people in the cinemas during that transition and now people are coming back.”
“So they deserve a little more appreciation,” he continued.
Martin Scorsese told Empire magazine in 2019 that modern comic book films are more akin to theme park rides — and “not cinema.” He expanded on his opinion in an essay for The New York Times, writing that “nothing is at risk” in their stories.
Journalists started asking their famous interview subjects how they felt about that stance as a result, spurring discourse-widening answers by the likes of Anthony Hopkins, Nicolas Cage and Coppola himself — who staunchly agreed with Scorsese.
“There used to be studio films,” the Godfather director told GQ in 2022. “Now there are Marvel pictures. And what is a Marvel picture? A Marvel picture is one prototype movie that is made over and over and over and over and over again to look different.”
Chris starred in some of the highest-grossing films of all time after landing the titular role in Thor (2011). He has since nabbed grittier action roles and bit parts in comedies in an effort to branch out, and will play a villain in the upcoming Mad Max sequel.
“I was bored of myself, yeah,” the native Australian confirmed about his Marvel-centric career.
“I was not bored of the opportunities I’d been given, but it all started to feel familiar. I’d done film upon film that fell into a similar space and I wasn’t stretching myself.”
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, which stars Chris Hemsworth in a rare villain role, opens May 24.