Robert Downey Jr. reacts to Quentin Tarantino’s Marvel criticism

Chadwick Boseman is Black Panther, Captain America is the star, or Thor is the star but they are not movie stars

Los Angeles: Actor Robert Downey Jr. has spoken up on the most recent attack at Marvel Cinematic Universe by filmmaker Quentin Tarantino.

In an interview about the Netflix documentary about his father Robert Downey Sr., the ‘Iron Man’ actor fought back at Quentin Tarantino’s claims that Marvel actors “are not movie stars,”

“I think our opinions on these matters say a lot about us. I think that we are in a time and place that I unwittingly contributed to, where IP has taken precedence over principle and personality. But it’s a double-edged sword,” he said.

The 57-year-old further stressed that things evolved over time and one must embrace the change.

Downey Jr was asked what he misses the most about being the centre of the Marvel Universe.

He responded: “What I miss most? Being in the trenches with Kevin Feige throughout; the beginning with Jon Favreau, it’s like a beautiful dream now; the middle, with Shane Black on ‘Iron Man 3’, we’d just had Exton and shot it mostly in Wilmington, NC,” Downey said. “It was idyllic and subversive. And ‘The End’, when I realised I’d made so many close friends in the MCU cast, and the Russo Brothers helping me embrace Tony’s arc.”

Tarantino criticised the Marvelisation of Hollywood during his appearance on ‘2 Bears, 1 Cave’ podcast last month.

“You have all these actors who have become famous playing these characters,” he 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.”

Pushing back on his pal and frequent collaborator’s criticism, he said, “It takes an actor to be those particular characters, and the sign of movie stardom has always been, what, asses in seats? What are we talking about?”

The 57-year-old added, “That’s not a big controversy for me to know that apparently these actors are movie stars. Chadwick Boseman is Black Panther. You can’t refute that, and he’s a movie star.”