Martin Scorsese Attacks Superhero Movies While Celebrating the Greatest 'Batman' Director

Martin Scorsese is coming after superhero movies again, but his approach is a little off this time. While stating that the world needs to “save cinema” from Marvel and DC and look to celebrated directors, he points out the greatest Batman director ever.

Martin Scorsese with the cast of Goodfellas — Credit: Warner Bros.

Scorsese is one of the greatest directors that the world has ever seen. From movies like Taxi Driver (1976), Goodfellas (1990), and The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), his contributions have been many—however, his penchant for coming after the superhero genre is getting a bit silly. We understand entirely why he is consistently wanting to go after the genre.

Nobody quite knew the monster that the MCU would become when it was officially launched in 2008. For the better part of ten years, everyone seemed to be flooding theaters to see the likes of Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man, Chris Evans as Captain America, and Chris Hemsworth as Thor.

DC also had the Snyderverse, which paled in comparison to what the MCU was producing. The superhero genre was the king of cinema for a long time.

Despite the MCU and DC producing the types of movies that garnered hundreds of millions of dollars at the theaters, how could that be a bad thing? The idea is to keep people returning to theaters, especially in a streaming world. Though Martin Scorsese might disagree with the genre, his approach has become ridiculous.

Martin Scorsese Wants to “Save Cinema” by Celebrating Christopher Nolan

Christian Bale as Batman in Batman Begins — Credit: Warner Bros

Martin Scorsese sat down with GQ, where he is currently promoting his new film, Killers of the Flower Moon. Naturally, he used his platform again to go after the world of superheroes in cinema. Though his approach is much of what he has shared before about the genre, he might be confused about the directors who have contributed to the genre. According to Scorsese:

“The danger there is what it’s doing to our culture. Because there are going to be generations now that think movies are only those — that’s what movies are. They already think that. Which means that we have to then fight back stronger. And it’s got to come from the grassroots level. It’s gotta come from the filmmakers themselves. And you’ll have, you know, the Safdie brothers, and you’ll have Chris Nolan, you know what I mean? And hit ’em from all sides. Hit ’em from all sides, and don’t give up. Let’s see what you got. Go out there and do it. Go reinvent. Don’t complain about it. But it’s true, because we’ve got to save cinema.”

The confusing nature of Scorsese coming after superhero movies this time around is that he uses Christopher Nolan as the director that people should be looking towards in terms of the films they make. What he might not know or is completely confused about is that Nolan happens to be the man responsible for arguably the greatest superhero movie ever made.

Christopher Nolan began his superhero adaptation career in the early 2000s when Warner Bros. selected him to helm a new Batman trilogy. Batman Begins (2005) wasn’t the greatest of all the films, but The Dark Knight (2008) placed him squarely into the best directors’ pantheon. He would be the first director to land an Academy Award for the superhero genre.

The Dark Knight catapulted the genre to new heights, effectively making people realize that films in the genre could be taken seriously as dramatic works of art.

Nolan was already a fantastic director behind films like Memento (2000), Insomnia (2002), and The Prestige (2006). He also followed up his Batman trilogy with hugely important films like Interstellar (2014), Tenet (2020), and Oppenheimer. His Batman films may not define him, but he remains the greatest superhero director ever.

Christopher Nolan filming — Credit: Warner Bros.

Martin Scorsese also remains one of the most influential directors of our generation, but constant attacks on the superhero genre are becoming a bit tiresome. His opinion might also be null and void after he wants to “save cinema” by hoisting up a director responsible for the most era-defining superhero movie ever made.

What do you think about Martin Scorsese attacking superhero movies but celebrating Christopher Nolan? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments down below!