Actors Who Have Criticized The MCU

These days, everyone from Oscar winners to action stars to people who aren't used to being in films that show outside art houses is popping up in Marvel movies, and it feels like just about everyone is in love with the Marvel Cinematic Universe. 

That isn't really the case. Plenty of actors have complaints with superhero movies in general — and Marvel in particular. Some have pledged never to get within a mile of a Marvel movie casting, some take issue with Marvel's representation of the under-represented, some actually blame Marvel and the makers of other superhero flicks for political and social problems, a few worked for Marvel and were less than pleased with the experience, and some seem to have a personal axe to grind whether they feel like admitting it or not. 

Regardless of their reasons, a number of actors have publicly criticized the MCU, and with Marvel Studios not appearing to slow down any time soon, they're likely to give these actors — and more — plenty of future reasons to complain.

The Avengers and their ilk may save the world on the screen, but according to Jodie Foster, when it comes to the hearts and minds of audiences, they do the exact opposite. Foster told Radio Times she had no interest in directing superhero movies, and she compared Marvel and DC's films to plundering the planet.

"Studios making bad content in order to appeal to the masses and shareholders is like fracking," Foster said. "You get the best return right now but you wreck the earth." She went on to say that such movies were "ruining the viewing habits of the American population and ultimately the rest of the world."

James Gunn — writer/director of both of Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy films as well as of the upcoming third installment — responded to Foster's comments on Twitter. He admitted her point of view had merits, since "most studio franchise films are somewhat soulless." But he rejected the notion that spectacle and depth couldn't be found in the same film. 

"Creating spectacle films that are innovative, humane, and thoughtful," Gunn said, "is what excites me about this job."

In 2016, when it was announced Tilda Swinton was cast as Stephen Strange's mentor the Ancient One in the Marvel Studios adaptation of Doctor Strange, veteran actor and vocal progressive George Takei wasn't the first person to accuse the studio of "whitewashing," but his voice was one of the loudest. 

When Doctor Strange co-writer C. Robert Cargill responded to the criticism, he said the choice to cast a Celtic woman was made to avoid the risk of angering Chinese audiences. He called the original comic book conception of the Ancient One "a racist stereotype" and went on to say that China's rule over Tibet further complicated things. "He originates from Tibet, so if you acknowledge that Tibet is a place and that he's Tibetan, you risk alienating one billion people." 

Takei didn't buy any of it. 

In a Facebook post, he wrote, "You cast a white actress so you wouldn't hurt sales...in Asia?" and called Cargill's comments "backpedaling" and "cringeworthy." Takei went on to respond to fan comments, and to explain exactly why he didn't believe Cargill's explanation. He said Marvel already diffused any possible backlash over the "Tibetan question" by putting the Ancient One's home not in Tibet, but Nepal. 

"It wouldn't have mattered to the Chinese government by that point whether the character was white or Asian," argued Takei. "It was already in another country."

Shortly after the release of Captain America: Civil War, Shane Black — director and co-writer of Iron Man 3 — told Uproxx his film's villain was originally meant to be a woman, but Marvel told him that couldn't happen because toy sales would suffer.

In response Stephen Colbert called out Marvel on The Late Show, saying the absence of female characters in Marvel's films made the MCU "kind of a sausage fest."

Colbert's criticism of Marvel and Hollywood was more lighthearted than stinging. He joked about owning action figures for Hannah and Her Sisters and Sophie's Choice when he was younger, along with claiming Darth Vader of Star Wars was originally meant to be "Darlene Vader."

He finished by asking why Fantastic Four's villain had to be a man. "They had better fix this in the next Fantastic Four movie," he said. "And, there had better not be another Fantastic Four movie."

There will always be grumblings from some comic book fans that what's on the screen is too different from the comics. For example, take Thor: The Dark World. In Marvel's comics, the face of Thor villain Malekith is neatly split down the middle — one half black, one half blue. This was paid tribute to somewhat in the film when lightning from Thor's hammer blackened half of Malekith's face, but he still didn't look much like the villain from the source material. While you might not often hear from actors in comic book movies siding with comic book purists, Christopher Eccleston's probably would've preferred a more faithful version — but not for the same reasons as hardcore Thor fans.

On a 2017 episode of The Graham Norton Show, Eccleston said Marvel was dishonest with him about the grueling makeup routine he'd endure for each day of filming. According to Eccleston, each day's makeup process was a whole day's worth of work before he even got on camera. "The first couple of days it was about seven hours, eight hours," Eccleston told Norton. "I think we got it down to six and a half ... They never, ever let me know that there'd be that amount of makeup."

When asked why agreed to keep doing the film, Eccleston gave the obvious answer: "Money." He went on to admit Thor: The Dark World was not his proudest moment.

When the world had yet to see Jason Momoa as Aquaman even in his brief cameo in Batman v. Superman, the star — at a fan's request – personalized an autographed photo with  "F— Marvel" at the Indiana Comic-Con.

The photo, and particularly the offending phrase, traveled quickly across the web feeding fuel to the decades-old Marvel/DC rivalry.

A couple of months later at the Puerto Rico Comic-Con, when asked if he regretted what he wrote, Momoa responded, "Here's the thing I regret — I regret that I can't personalize anything to my fans." Momoa said he meant nothing by what he wrote. "I love the X-Men," Momoa said. "I grew up with them. I love Wolverine. My kid loves Spider-Man." Momoa said he wrote it only because a fan requested it, and gave the example that he had written "Will you marry me" for fans just because they'd asked.

He ended his answer with, "I'll leave my sense of humor at the bottom of the ocean next time."