Samuel L Jackson responds to Quentin Tarantino's comments on Marvel actors: 'That’s not a big...'

Quentin Tarantino predictably created a social media storm when he dared to say that actors working in movies of Marvel Cinematic Universe are not the stars, the characters are the stars. He was asked on a podcast whether he loves Marvel movies. He in his usual blunt manner said he doesn't particularly. But he doesn't hate them, either.

"There’s an aspect that if these movies were coming out when I was in my twenties, I would totally be f***ing happy and totally love them. [But] they wouldn’t be the only movies being made, they would be those movies amongst other movies. I’m almost 60 so I’m not quite as excited about them," he told Tom Segura on his podcast 2 Bears 1 Cave.

Also Read:Why Quentin Tarantino, Martin Scorsese, et al. are right about Marvel movies

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He added, "Part of the Marvel-ization of Hollywood is you have all these actors who have become famous playing these characters. But they’re not movie stars. Right? Captain America is the star. Thor is the star. I’m not the first person to say that. I think that’s been said a zillion times, but it’s these franchise characters [who] become a star.”

Tarantino's comments preceded statements made by first and foremost Martin Scorsese (who unwittingly began the whole shebang back in 2019 when he called Marvel movies not worthy enough to be cinema, and more akin to theme park rides), Francis Ford Coppola (who called Marvel movies "despicable"), Jane Campion, James Cameron, Ridley Scott, Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Bong Joon-Ho, among others.

There has been the usual trollish response on social media sites, particularly Twitter, from MCU fanatics. Now, veteran actor Samuel L Jackson, who has straddled both worlds — MCU and Tarantino/original movies — has responded. Jackson has been in several Tarantino movies, most prominently 1994's 'Pulp Fiction', and has played the role of Nick Fury in MCU since the very beginning, since 2008's 'Iron Man'.

While speaking at The View, Jackson responded to Tarantinto by saying, "That’s not a big controversy for me to know that these actors are movie stars. Chadwick Boseman is Black Panther. You can’t refute that, and he’s a movie star. It takes an actor to be those particular characters.”

Earlier, Simu Liu, the star of the MCU movie 'Shang-Chi and the Legend of Ten Rings' had also responded to Tarantino. He had tweeted, "If the only gatekeepers to movie stardom came from Tarantino and Scorsese, I would never have had the opportunity to lead a $400 million plus movie. I am in awe of their filmmaking genius. They are transcendent auteurs. But they don’t get to point their nose at me or anyone.”

In another tweet, he added, “No movie studio is or ever will be perfect. But I’m proud to work with one that has made sustained efforts to improve diversity onscreen by creating heroes that empower and inspire people of all communities everywhere. I loved the ‘Golden Age’ too.. but it was white as hell.”