James Cameron Shades Marvel to Hype Up Avatar, Gets Roasted Instead
Fans were quick to point out that Cameron's criticism of Marvel movies is intensifying when he has his own movie to promote.
Avatar director James Cameron has offered his opinion on how Marvel movies handle relationships between the characters — and it is not very flattering.
Speaking with Variety, Cameron took a jab at big superhero movies, clarifying that he referred both to Marvel and DC.
"When I look at these big, spectacular films — I'm looking at you, Marvel and DC — it doesn't matter how old the characters are, they all act like they're in college. They have relationships, but they really don't. They never hang up their spurs because of their kids. The things that really ground us and give us power, love, and a purpose? Those characters don't experience it, and I think that's not the way to make movies," Cameron said.
Cameron's little beef with superhero movies is no surprise to anyone. Avatar was temporarily removed from the world's highest-grossing movie spot by none other than Avengers: Endgame, even though the superhero triumph was pretty short-lived as Cameron regained positions with a re-release.
But now, more than a decade after the first Avatar movie made history, the director is returning to the cinemas with the sequel, titled The Way of Water. And some fans believe that Cameron simply has no other promotion tools but to roast his long-time box office rival.
However, even if it wasn't about simply invoking the Marvel card in order to promote Avatar, there are plenty of issues with Cameron's remark for fans.
"His problem is that he thinks that all movies are supposed to function like his. So what he's saying is that everyone's supposed to have kids? What if you just have other things you want to do in life?" Twitter user SammyLui3 questioned.
Others argued that superheroes just cannot be compared to regular human characters, not least due to the fact that such movies will have a bigger extent of fantasy element.
Some Marvel fans were even ready to understand Cameron, but they still offered a number of well-written relationships between Marvel characters, from Peter Parker and MJ to Wanda and Vision.
But the majority of people think they know the only reason for Cameron's criticism.
"He's just tryna promote Avatar. This is the only way filmmakers know how to promote their stuff, by talking about more popular things," Twitter user 215PhillyPhilly said.
Naturally, many people felt the urge to just criticize Cameron's Avatar back, blasting the main character, Jack Sully, and his "unoriginal" relationship with a Pandora native. Besides, users recalled how it takes Cameron 13 years to create a sequel, while Marvel is definitely more productive.
Still, no matter what one thinks about MCU and Avatar, both franchises are up and going. The Way of Water hits theaters on December 16, 2022, while MCU is in the middle of its Multiverse Saga and Phase Four which is about to conclude with Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, scheduled to hit big screens on November 11, 2022.