Who would have thought that Martin Scorsese, without a doubt one of the greatest directors in the history of film with a string of all-time classics under his belt, would become the number one enemy of the comic book movie? It all started months ago when the Raging Bull and Goodfellas filmmaker dismissed the likes of the Marvel Cinematic Universe as not really being cinema, which caused a massive backlash online and led to Marvel alumni from both sides of the camera speaking out on the matter.
After publicly bashing the most lucrative franchise of all-time at the same time he was making the promotional rounds for Netflix exclusive The Irishman, Scorsese was inevitably asked about his comments in virtually every interview that he did, and even went so far as to write an extensive editorial justifying his opinions.
It all seemed fairly ironic that the 77 year-old was constantly fielding questions on comic book blockbusters when the most talked-about movie in the world at the time was Todd Phillips’ Joker, which was clearly very heavily influenced by Scorsese’s earlier output, and the Academy Award winner was even attached to produce the R-rated psychological drama during the early stages of development.
Given how Joker is so indebted to Scorsese’s filmography, there was little doubt that someone was going to ask him if he’d ever gotten around to seeing the movie. Well, it happened, and to say that the man behind The Departed and The Aviator was abrupt in his answer would be an understatement.
“I saw clips of it. I know it. So it’s like, why do I need to? I get it. It’s fine.”
We know that Scorsese isn’t a fan of comic book movies, but his comments come across as incredibly dismissive, especially when you consider that Joker and The Irishman could be set to go head-to-head in many of the major categories at the upcoming Oscars. If Todd Phillips and Joaquin Phoenix were to get one over on the elder statesman of cinema during awards season, comic book fans would no doubt be over the moon.