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 awesome and successful films ever made with the first two Terminator films, Aliens, Titanic, and Avatar. Cameron is the filmmaker that you don’t want to bet against, especially in the sequel department.

The filmmaker recently talked about the big-budget spectacle films being released these days and in the process singled out Marvel and DC films saying 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 look at these big, spectacular films -- I'm looking at you, Marvel and DC -- it doesn't matter how old the characters are, they all act like they're in college. They have relationships, but they really don't. They never hang up their spurs because of their kids. The things that really ground us and give us power, love, and a purpose? Those characters don't experience it, and I think that's not the way to make movies."

While I do enjoy watching these kinds of movies, I’ll admit that he does make a good and interesting point here. The stories that Marvel and DC are telling could be so much better and more impactful if everyone didn’t act like college kids. Cameron went on to detail just how much his characters in the Avatar sequel have changed since so much time has passed:

"Zoe [Saldana] and Sam [Worthington] now play parents, 15 years later. In the first movie, Sam's character leaps off his flying creature and essentially changes the course of history as a result of this crazy, almost suicidal leap of faith. And Zoe's character leaps off a limb and assumes there's going to be some nice big leaves down there that can cushion her fall. But when you're a parent, you don't think that way. So for me, as a parent of five kids, I'm saying, 'What happens when those characters mature and realize that they have a responsibility outside their own survival?'"

That definitely adds a layer of depth and reality to the characters and story. The fact that I have kids makes me want to be so much more careful with the things that I do because I want to actually stick around and watch them grow up and be there for them.

Cameron’s interest and take on superheroes it’s a bit different from what other filmmakers have delivered. When previously talking about the Spider-Man film he was developing, he said:

"I wanted to make something that had a kind of gritty reality to it. Superheroes in general always came off as kind of fanciful to me, and I wanted to do something that would have been more in the vein of Terminator and Aliens, that you buy into the reality right away. So you're in a real world, you're not in some mythical Gotham City. Or Superman and the Daily Planet and all that sort of thing, where it always felt very kind of metaphorical and fairytale-like. I wanted it to be: It's New York. It's now. A guy gets bitten by a spider. He turns into this kid 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 his big problem is the damn suit. Things like that. I wanted to ground it in reality and ground it in universal human experience. I think it would have been a fun film to make."

What are your thoughts on James Cameron’s thoughts on the way superhero films are made these days?

Avatar: The Way of Water hits theaters on December 16th.