Robert Downey Jr. Responds to Quentin Tarantino's Comments on Marvel Actors Not Being Movie Stars

As you know, Quentin Tarantino has said some things about Marvel and the actors who play the superheroes in these films that some of these actors might take offense to. He shared his thoughts on how there aren’t really any movie stars anymore due to the "Marvel-ization of Hollywood." He explained that the actors who star in these Marvel movies are not movie stars:

"You have all these actors who have become famous playing these characters. 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."

Now, Robert Downey Jr., the actor who brought Iron Man to life, is responding to these comments. In a recent interview with Deadline, Downy Jr. was asked about what Tarantino and other filmmakers have said about Marvel movies over the years and the actor responded by saying:

"I think our opinions on these matters say a lot about us. I think that we are in a time and place that I unwittingly contributed to, where IP has taken precedence over principle and personality. But it's a double-edged sword. A piece of IP is only as good as the human talent you get to represent it, and you can have some great IP even if it's coming from an auteur or a national treasure of a writer-director, and if you don't have the right kind of artist playing that role, you'll never know how good it could have been. I think that creatively it is a waste of time to be at war with ourselves. I think this is a time when everything is so much more fragmented now that I think you have this kind of bifurcation. Throwing stones one way or another … and I've had my reactions in the past when people said things that I felt were discrediting my integrity … I go, "You know what? Let's just get over it. We're all a community. There's enough room for everything," and thank God for Top Gun: Maverick and Avatar: The Way of Water. That's all I have to say. We need the big stuff to make room for films like Armageddon Time."

He goes on to expand on that and discuss some of the other projects that he’s been working on, saying:

"I'm not talking about trickle-down entertainment. I'm just saying that things are always changing and I'm at a place in my life where I've now gone back to back, working with Chris Nolan on what was an exceptionally transformational experience for me; having been in pre-production post and bringing Sr. to market; and the next thing I'm doing is a series with my Mrs. and the director Park Chan-Wook, based on a Pulitzer book called The Sympathizer. It's already a transformative, literally playing five different roles experience for me. So, I would just say, before we cast aspersions on each other — undergo your own renaissance and see if it doesn't change your mind a little bit. Reinvent yourself before you decide that somebody else doesn't know what they're doing or that something is keeping you from doing your best, or that something is better than something else. You know, we're in this age now where Favreau said it best: We used to try to make waves in a lake, and now we're just trying to catch people's attention as things are moving by quickly in a stream. I think that'll change again, but this is just where we're at. And to accept it and be grateful that you get to participate is the right place to start."

The state of the entertainment business is always changing and evolving and it will continue to do so. We are in an interesting time now when it comes to movies, but ten years from now, who knows what it will look like!?

Samuel L. Jackson also recently addressed Tarantino’s comments saying: "It takes an actor to be those particular characters, and the sign of movie stardom has always been, what, asses in seats. What are we talking about? That's not a big controversy for me to know that apparently, these actors are movie stars. Chadwick Boseman is Black Panther. You can't refute that, and he's a movie star."

What do you all think about Downey Jr.’s response to Tarantino’s comments and he opinion on the current state of the industry?