Simu Liu slams Quentin Tarantino over anti-Marvel comments, calls Golden Age ‘white as hell’

Simu Liu is coming in defense of Marvel movies and calling out the claims made by director Quentin Tarantino about the “Marvel-ization of Hollywood,” and how it has resulted in the death of the movie star. (Also read: Letitia Wright calls out publication for clubbing her with ‘abusers’ Brad Pitt, Will Smith: ‘Stop this nonsense’)

The star of Marvel’s Shang-Chi took to Twitter and said, “If the only gatekeepers to movie stardom came from Tarantino and Scorsese, I would never have had the opportunity to lead a $400 million plus movie.” He further added, “I am in awe of their filmmaking genius. They are transcendent auteurs. But they don’t get to point their nose at me or anyone.”

The actor starred in Sang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings which released last year and was also the first film made by the studio with an Asian lead. It went on to gross around $430 million at the box office. The star continued in another tweet, “No movie studio is or ever will be perfect. But I’m proud to work with one that has made sustained efforts to improve diversity onscreen by creating heroes that empower and inspire people of all communities everywhere. I loved the ‘Golden Age’ too.. but it was white as hell.”

Earlier this week Quentin Tarantino had expressed his concern over Marvel films in an interview on ‘2 Bears,1 Cave’ podcast, saying, “Part of the Marvel-ization of Hollywood is…you have all these actors who have become famous playing these characters,” the director behind films like Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill, and Django Unchained 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.” Quentin clarified in the interview that he does not have any hatred for Marvel films but the dislike stems because those are the only products that Hollywood is interested in making nowadays. “Look, I used to collect Marvel comics like crazy when I was a kid,” Quentin said.

“There’s an aspect that if these movies were coming out when I was in my twenties, I would totally be fucking happy and totally love them. I mean, they wouldn’t be the only movies being made. They would be those movies amongst other movies. But, you know, I’m almost 60, so yeah. No, I’m not quite as excited about them.”

“My only axe to grind against them is they’re the only things that seem to be made,” Quentin added. “And they’re the only things that seem to generate any kind of excitement amongst a fan base or even for the studio making them. That’s what they’re excited about. And so it’s just the fact that they are the entire representation of this era of movies right now. There’s not really much room for anything else. That’s my problem.”

The director has been making press rounds for promoting his book, “Cinema Speculation, that is now available for purchase.