Kevin Smith wouldn’t touch a Marvel or Star Wars project with a three-foot pole.
While the filmmaker himself is a fan of both franchises, Smith says their respective fan bases are too “rabid” and that he doesn’t want to walk on eggshells to avoid ruining the youth of diehard fans — a lesson he learned while working to reboot Netflix’s He-Man Masters of the Universe: Revelation.
“It’s a silly message – you’re going to piss someone off. Fandom is rabid and tribal,” Smith, 52, told The Guardian when asked if he consider directing a Marvel or Star Wars movie in the future.
“When I was working on Masters of the Universe,,I got a lot of warmth from people who felt that I had ruined their childhood. If I got anywhere near a Marvel or a Star Wars, I’d be insanely hesitant.”
Hesitations aside, Smith says the director’s market for those films is already oversaturated.
“They have a billion people to make those movies, but nobody makes Kevin Smith movies,” he added.
Smith defends criticism of Martin Scorsese comedy films
Like Smith, many stars are tired of questions about the comic book franchise: are you going to direct? Are you going to star? What do you think of the latest MCU or DC movie? Among them is legendary filmmaker Martin Scorsese, who has been openly critical of the hyper-popular Marvel franchise.
Scorsese even went so far as to publish an op-ed in 2019 about his feelings about the comic books, comparing films such as Captain America and Spider Man to “amusement parks” – and Smith came to his rescue.
“…In our very tribal culture, someone like Martin Scorsese who calls comic book movies as amusement parks and amusement park rides makes a group of people who have been making comic book movies for the past 10 years very unhappy,” Jay and Silent Bob the creator told Forbes, stressing that fans should curb their expectations. “You ask a man who made” Goodfellas what he’s thinking about [Spider-Man], what do you think you’re going to get? He’s a very serious filmmaker, and he’s a man of a certain age who sticks to his ways. It shouldn’t surprise you that that’s his reaction.”
“For every old filmmaker who says, ‘I don’t get it,’ there’s a bunch of young filmmakers who say, ‘I get it and I want to do it.’ We don’t need to ban the people who might not be in the same movies as us,” he added.