Quentin Tarantino has always been quite outspoken about the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and in a recent interview, he continued to rally against the guaranteed success machine that the MCU has become. Speaking on Tom Segura’s podcast, Tarantino talks about the “Marvel-ization” of Hollywood and how it doesn’t involve movie stars, as the characters are the stars.
Tarantino previously said that he would not want to direct a movie for Marvel Studios for the simple reason he is “not a hired hand.’ As someone planning to direct just ten movies in his career, and with only one of those to make up the number, it is probably not surprising that the Pulp Fiction helmer would want to concentrate on his own ideas. When it comes to the MCU, the director says that the franchise does not contain any “movie stars” as the characters are all people want to see. He said:
“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. Or Thor is the star. I mean, I’m not the first person to say that. I think that’s been said a zillion times, you know, but it’s like, you know, it’s these franchise characters that become a star.”
Which Marvel Movie Did Quentin Tarantino Almost Direct?
Despite his lack of overall praise for the Marvel Studios franchise, Quentin Tarantino almost directed a movie based on one of the characters from the pages of Marvel Comics; Luke Cage. Of course, this was before Marvel Studios came into existence and when Marvel-based movies were still focused on individuals and mostly revolved around Spider-Man and the Hulk. In a previous interview, Tarantino explained:
"There was a time before all this Marvel s--t was coming out. It was after Reservoir Dogs, it was before Pulp Fiction, and I had thought about doing Luke Cage. Growing up I was a big comic book collector, and my two favorite [comic books] were Luke Cage: Hero for Hire, later Luke Cage: Power Man, and Shang-Chi: Master of Kung Fu. I also liked Werewolf by Night, that was a great one, and Tomb of Dracula was great, but my absolute hero was Luke Cage.
"What actually dissuaded me from doing it... was my comic geek friends talked me out of it, because I had an idea that Larry Fishburne would've been the perfect guy to play Luke Cage. And I'm talking King of New York era Larry Fishburne. 'My name is Jimmy Jump.' ... But All my friends were like, 'No, no, listen, it's got to be Wesley Snipes.' And I go, 'Look, I like Wesley Snipes, but Larry Fishburne is practically Marlon Brando. I think Fish is the man.' And they're like, 'Yeah, but he'd have to get in shape in a big way. Snipes is that way already!' And I go, 'F--k that! That's not that important! F--k you, you ruined the whole damn thing!'"
Perhaps it was simply just not meant to be for Tarantino to have any involvement in the world of Marvel. From his more recent comments, it sounds like it is currently the furthest thing from his mind.