Nicolas Cage has some thoughts on the current trajectory of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
The blockbuster franchise has moved away from its emphasis on storytelling to prioritize big fights and action sequences, the “Spider-Noir” actor lamented during a recent appearance at Fan Expo Dallas.
“It started out, in my view, terrific,” Cage said during a Q&A. “Some of the early stories were marvelous, the way that they wove all the threads together and told the different character stories and backstories.”
The Oscar winner did not name any specific films but pointed out how things have changed with more recent MCU installments.
“Lately — I do say this with love — when I see these 50-plus, otherwise intelligent, remarkably gifted thespians putting on these ridiculous outfits and getting ready for the fight — and let’s face it, it is cutting all to the fight — it’s hard for me not to be reminded that the MCU is becoming a well-funded and glorified WWE,” he said.
While Cage has not appeared in MCU movies, he has portrayed a number of Marvel characters. In Prime Video’s “Spider-Noir,” he played Ben Reilly, a hapless and jaded private eye who used to moonlight as a masked vigilante known as the Spider until the love of his life was murdered. The series, which was canceled after its first season, is based on an alternate-universe Spider-Man known as Spider-Man Noir.
“One of the things I liked about ‘Noir,’ ‘Spider-Noir,’ was it wasn’t cutting to the fight,” Cage said during his Fan Expo appearance. “It was a detective story. There was a mystery there. I would like to see [the MCU] get back to telling the stories and not just cutting to the wrestling match.”
Cage also voiced a different version of Spider-Noir in the animated 2018 movie “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.” That version of Spider-Noir was a Peter Parker from an alternate universe.
Before his foray into Spider-Man-related projects, Cage portrayed Johnny Blaze in the 2007 movie “Ghost Rider” and its sequel, “Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance.” Marvel Studios recently announced that a “Ghost Rider” reboot starring Ryan Gosling as the eponymous fiery, supernatural motorcyclist, will hit theaters July 28, 2028.
Cage, of course, is not the first Hollywood luminary to take a shot at the blockbuster superhero franchise or comic-book superhero movies in general. In 2019, Oscar-winning filmmaker Martin Scorsese declared that MCU movies are “not cinema” and said “as well made as they are, with actors doing the best they can under the circumstances,” they were more akin to “theme parks.”
Despite some pushback, Scorsese has not backed down from his belief that movies inspired by superhero comic books are “manufactured content.” Oscar-winning actor Jessica Lange has also made similar statements in the past, saying in 2023 that comic-book movies have “sacrificed this art that we’ve been involved in … for the sake of profit.”
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