James Gunn Responds to Francis Ford Coppola Calling MCU Films ‘Despicable’

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While Martin Scorsese is clear about his indifference to Marvel films, Godfather director Francis Ford Coppola had went a tad further and branded the films ‘despicable.’ With such a respected director bashing one of the biggest movie franchises of all time, GOTG director James Gunn has taken to IG to address Copolla’s words.

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Many of our grandfathers thought all gangster movies were the same, often calling them “despicable”. Some of our great grandfathers thought the same of westerns, and believed the films of John Ford, Sam Peckinpah, and Sergio Leone were all exactly the same. I remember a great uncle to whom I was raving about Star Wars. He responded by saying, “I saw that when it was called 2001, and, boy, was it boring!” Superheroes are simply today’s gangsters/cowboys/outer space adventurers. Some superhero films are awful, some are beautiful. Like westerns and gangster movies (and before that, just MOVIES), not everyone will be able to appreciate them, even some geniuses. And that’s okay. ❤️

A post shared by James Gunn (@jamesgunn) on Oct 20, 2019 at 11:51am PDT

In case you’re curious, Copolla had told Yahoo!:

“When Martin Scorsese says that the Marvel pictures are not cinema, he’s right because we expect to learn something from cinema, we expect to gain something, some enlightenment, some knowledge, some inspiration. I don’t know that anyone gets anything out of seeing the same movie over and over again, Martin was kind when he said it’s not cinema… He didn’t say it’s despicable, which I just say it is.”

While Scorsese may be more indifferent with his criticism of the MCU, he didn’t go so far as to call the films ‘despicable.’ I don’t know what Coppola was aiming for when he released that statement, but I don’t imagine it’s bothering him at all. If anything, you can compare it to Spielberg’s rant about Netflix films not being qualified for awards.

Personally, I don’t consider MCU films as ‘high-art’ but I don’t see them as completely terrible either. These superheroes mean a lot to kids, and I think they’re generally entertaining. Sure some aren’t that great, but even those ‘deep character films’ have their hits and misses.

I say just like what you like, and don’t hate on others for liking what they like; if anything, these directors just want audiences to try out different films once in a while, not just these huge blockbusters. How’s that for a more optimistic spin?