James Cameron says Marvel and DC movie characters lack depth – “They all act like they’re in college”

James Cameron has made some of the most fantastic and successful films ever made with the first two Terminator movie, Aliens, TitanicAnd Avatar. Cameron is the director you don’t want to bet on, especially in the sequel department.

The director recently talked about the high-budget entertainment films coming out these days and in the process singled out the Marvel and DC films by stating that the characters lack depth and complexity and act like “they’re in college.” Here’s what he told the New York Times:

“When I watch these big, spectacular movies – I’m watching you, Marvel and DC – no matter how old the characters are, they all act like they’re in college. They have relationships, but they don’t really. They never attack theirs. spurs because of their children. The things that really ground us and give us power, love and purpose? Those characters don’t experience that and I think it’s not the way to make movies. “

While I enjoy watching this type of film, I have to admit it made a positive and interesting point here. The stories told by Marvel and DC could be much better and more impactful if everyone didn’t behave like college kids. Cameron went on to explain how much his characters have changed in the Avatar sequel since it’s been so long:

“Zoe [Saldana] and Sam [Worthington] now he plays the parents, 15 years later. In the first film, Sam’s character jumps from his flying creature and fundamentally changes the course of history due to this insane, almost suicidal leap of faith. And Zoe’s character jumps off a limb and assumes there will be some nice big leaves down there that can cushion her fall. But when you are a parent, you don’t think so. So for me, as a parent of five children, I’m saying, ‘What happens when those characters mature and realize they have a responsibility outside of their own survival?’ “

This definitely adds a layer of depth and reality to the characters and the story. The fact that I have children makes me want to be much more attentive to the things I do because I really want to stick around and see them grow up and be there for them.

Cameron’s interest in dealing with superheroes is a little different than what other directors have expressed. When previously there was talk of Spiderman film he was developing said:

“I wanted to do something that had a kind of harsh reality. Superheroes in general have always seemed a bit imaginative to me and I wanted to do something that would be more like that of Terminator And Aliens, that you immediately acquire reality. So you are in a real world, not in mythical Gotham City. Or Superman and the Daily Planet and all that kind of thing, where it always seemed very metaphorical and fairytale. I wanted it to be: it’s New York. It’s snowing. A boy is bitten by a spider. He turns into this guy with these powers and he has this fantasy of being Spider-Man, and he makes this suit and it’s terrible, and then he has to improve the suit, and the big deal with him is the damn suit. Things like that. I wanted to root it in reality and root it in universal human experience. I think it would have been a fun movie to make. “

What are your thoughts on James Cameron’s thoughts on how superhero movies are made these days?

Avatar: The way of water comes out in theaters on December 16.