‘Avengers’ Director Shades Scorsese for Superhero Movie Jabs
Avengers: Endgame director Joe Russo hit back at Martin Scorsese in a TikTok video, apparently for past comments Scorsese has made about superhero films. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Russo's parody has made people on the internet extremely angry.
The video, posted on Friday, made a winking reference to a recent TikTok from Scorsese’s daughter, Francesca. In her post, the Killers of the Flower Moon director pretends to direct his pet puppy, Oscar, in a dramatic scene.
“Aww, look. He’s got a schnauzer,” Russo said of Scorsese's clip. “I love schnauzers. And his name is Oscar. That’s really cute.” The camera then pulls out to reveal Russo is holding his own dog. “Ok come on, Box Office,” he tells the pooch.
Russo’s jab earned the Avengers helmer a great deal of vitriol online, where many fans accused him of being disrespectful. “I guess The Gray Man is no longer the most embarrassing thing directed by Joe Russo,” one user joked in reference to the ill-received Netflix actioner. Others derided Russo for his perceived lack of charisma and comedic timing in the video.
Scorsese's dismissal of the superhero genre is well-documented.
He first railed against them while promoting The Irishman in 2019. “I don’t see them. I tried, you know? But that’s not cinema,” Scorsese lamented to Empire. “Honestly, the closest I can think of them, as well made as they are, with actors doing the best they can under the circumstances, is theme parks.”
Scorsese later doubled down in a New York Times essay, in which he said Marvel films lack “revelation, mystery or genuine emotional danger." "Nothing is at risk," he wrote. "The pictures are made to satisfy a specific set of demands, and they are designed as variations on a finite number of themes.”
Scorsese’s historical epic Killers of the Flower Moon is currently in theaters. Though it notched the third-best opening weekend cume of Scorsese’s career, the film dropped a precipitous 61 percent in its second outing.
Since the last Avengers installment, Russo's subsequent films debuted exclusively on streaming services.