James Gunn Forced To Backtrack After Saying Martin Scorsese Lives In ‘Shadow Of Marvel’ Films

James Gunn has put a lid on attempts to create beef between him and Martin Scorsese after responding to the director’s criticism of Marvel movies.

The Suicide Squad director made headlines earlier this week after appearing to suggest Scorsese was in ‘the shadow of the Marvel films,’ and while he did also praise The Irishman director, it was the apparently shady comments which set the internet alight.

Now, Gunn has responded to the backlash, taking to Twitter to say his comments had been blown out of proportion. ‘For the record, Martin Scorsese is probably the world’s greatest living American filmmaker. I love & study his films & will continue to love & study his films,’ he wrote. ‘I disagree with him solely on one point: That films based on comic books are innately not cinema, that’s all.’

Gunn’s initial comments were made in reference to criticisms made by Scorsese last year, in which he said Marvel films were ‘not cinema.’

In a New York Times op-ed, Scorsese wrote that while he admired many of the MCU’s directors, his idea of what cinema should be was ‘as far from the Marvel universe as we on Earth are from Alpha Centauri.’

Having himself helmed Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy franchise, Gunn unsurprisingly disagreed.

Gunn went on to emphasise that he was a fan of Scorsese and agreed with him that ‘there are a lot of heartless, soulless spectacle films out there,’ but it was his initial quotes that made headlines, leading the director to take to social media in an attempt to nip the controversy in the bud.

Scorsese is yet to respond to Gunn’s comments.