During an appearance on ABC’s The View, Samuel L. Jackson shared his thoughts on Quentin Tarantino’s recent criticism of superhero films.
On last week’s episode of Tom Segura’s 2 Bears, 1 Cave podcast, Tarantino blamed Marvel’s reign atop Hollywood for the decline in traditional movie stars.
“Part of the Marvel-ization of Hollywood is…you have all these actors who have become famous playing these characters,” Tarantino said. “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…but it’s like, you know, it’s these franchise characters that become a star.”
Jackson, of course, has found himself on both ends of the argument. He’s appeared in several Tarantino films, such as 1994’s Pulp Fiction, 1997’s Jackie Brown (1997) and 2012’s Django Unchained; he’s also part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, appearing in 2008’s Iron Man as Nick Fury, which he’s reprised in numerous films such as Captain America: The First Avenger, Thor, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame.
“It takes an actor to be those particular characters,” Jackson told The View. “And the sign of movie stardom has always been, what, asses in seats? What are we talking about?”
“So, it’s not a big controversy for me to know that, well, apparently, these actors are movie stars,” he added. You know, Chadwick Boseman is Black Panther. You can’t refute that. And he’s a movie star.”
Watch Jackson’s comments on Tarantino’s Marvel remarks below.