Tim Blake Nelson has made it clear he doesn't agree with those who "attack" the Marvel Cinematic Universe because, in his opinion, Marvel is "keeping cinema alive."
Nelson, who is reprising his Incredible Hulk role as Samuel Sterns, AKA The Leader, in Captain America: Brave New World, touched on Marvel's importance to the industry while speaking to TheWrap at San Diego Comic-Con 2024. He also shared his stance on the long-standing debate over the cinematic value of superhero movies.
"Marvel has become this phenomenon that's unprecedented in the history of cinema," Nelson explained. "These scores of movies with characters moving in and out of one another's storylines, coming together, going back apart, fighting against one another in a single universe: it's never happened before in movies. When people attack these movies as, 'Well, it's not real cinema' or, 'It's the death of cinema,' I actually think it's keeping cinema alive, and I really mean that."
The debate surrounding the MCU ignited in 2019 when director Martin Scorcese shared his opinion that Marvel movies are "not cinema," prompting several Hollywood icons to jump to the franchise's defence, including James Gunn, Samuel L. Jackson, Natalie Portman, Taika Waititi, Kevin Feige, Bob Iger, and many more.
In more recent times, Marvel Studios co-president Louis D'Esposito and MCU leader Kevin Feige have acknowledged that the studio has been going through a bit of a rough patch, but that they hoped to regain lost ground by "coming back strong" with the release of Deadpool & Wolverine, which hit theaters on July 26.
Disney has also announced plans for Marvel to release no more than three movies and two shows annually from now on, with Deadpool & Wolverine — which has Ryan Reynolds' Merc with a Mouth teaming up with Hugh Jackman's clawed X-Man — being the only MCU movie to come out in theaters this year.
Deadpool & Wolverine has shattered records and achieved the largest R-rated global box office opening ever with a staggering $438.3 million and the eighth-biggest domestic weekend box office debut of all time, with ticket sales reaching $205 million. It also helped Marvel Studios cross $30 billion at the global box office.
Meanwhile, Captain America: Brave New World will arrive in theaters on February 14, 2025, as part of a new wave of Marvel movies. Nelson has already commended director Julius Onah for wanting to make a "reality-based superhero movie" with a notable "absence of digital stuff" for some parts of the Anthony Mackie-led sequel.
Adele Ankers-Range is a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on X/Twitter here.
