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Credit: FoxThe acclaimed director of The Wolverine (2013) and Logan (2017) director, James Mangold, has some very harsh words for the future director of Marvel. According to him, Multiverse films and everything about them are the “enemy.”
That is likely not exactly what Marvel Studios needs to hear right now from one of the more accomplished directors to work with one of its most popular characters, particularly as Deadpool & Wolverine has just hit theaters and is pretty much entirely built around a Multiverse concept.
In fact, the big question for Deadpool & Wolverine when it was first announced to co-star Hugh Jackman alongside Ryan Reynolds was how the Marvel Cinematic Universe would bring back his most iconic character after the actor officially retired from portraying him with James Mangold’s Logan.
But since 2017, Disney has gone all-in on the idea that all comic book properties, including the X-Men and Fantastic Four Fox franchises and the Sony Spider-Man series, could exist in a single overlapping Multiverse of never-ending box office profit.
Thus, it was announced that the Logan Hugh Jackman portrays in Deadpool & Wolverine is an entirely different Variant from the one that died in his eponymous movie. This allows him to interact with an adult Laura/X-23 (Dafne Keen) and duke it out with Cassandra Nova (Emma Corrin) without anyone being too upset.
Related: Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman Release ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Music Video
Director James Mangold is not a fan of the idea, to put it mildly. In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, the Walk the Line (2005) filmmaker was candid about his opinions regarding Marvel’s new favorite concept, stating simply, “I don’t do multiverses.”
Mangold continued to express his distaste, saying, “It’s weird that I’ve even worked in the world of IP entertainment because I don’t like multi-movie universe-building. It’s the enemy of storytelling. The death of storytelling. It’s more interesting to people the way the Legos connect than the way the story works in front of us.”
While this might be the kind of statement you could expect from an indie or arthouse filmmaker, James Mangold is not kidding about his work in IP entertainment. In addition to two X-Men movies, most recently, he took over directing Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023) from Steven Spielberg; the film was critically panned and a commercial flop.
But that’s not the extent of his involvement with Disney. Mangold first signed a writer/director contract with the Mouse House in 1985, working on The Disney Sunday Movie program and co-writing the cult animated film Oliver & Company (1988). His upcoming Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown, starring Timothee Chalamet, will be distributed by Searchlight Pictures, a subsidiary of Disney.
Perhaps most dramatically, he is currently in development of an upcoming Star Wars film focused on the early days of the Jedi.
Related: Marvel Boss Kevin Feige Speaks Out on Kang Recasting After Replacement Reported
In other words, James Mangold has some deep ties to Disney and Marvel. But that doesn’t stop him from expanding on his dislike of the kind of Multiverse fan service that the MCU has become deeply associated with:
“For me, the goal becomes, always, ‘What is unique about this film, and these characters? Not making you think about some other movie or some Easter egg or something else, which is all an intellectual act, not an emotional act. You want the movie to work on an emotional level.”
“I refuse. I just can’t do it. The amount of lore and Easter eggs and fan service starts to become antithetical to any of this stuff at a certain point. It isn’t storytelling anymore. It’s large-scale advertising.”
That is an interesting perspective from a director associated with some of the most profitable and heavily merchandised franchise IP ever known, but we respect his willingness to say it. While Mangold might be down for a Star Wars movie, it is probably safe to say that we won’t see him helm Secret Wars anytime soon.
Do you think Multiverse movies are bad for storytelling?