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Marvel boss Kevin Feige calls Scorsese's comments 'unfortunate'

Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige arrives at the world premiere of "Spider-Man: Far From Home" on Wednesday, June 26, 2019, at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)
Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige (Credit: Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)

Kevin Feige, the head of Marvel Studios, has finally broken his silence on Martin Scorsese's comments about the Marvel movie franchise.

Last month, the Goodfellas director said that in his opinion, the movies are 'not cinema', as he would term it, and compared them instead to 'amusement park rides'.

The row has trundled on ever since, some, like Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn and Jon Favreau objecting, while others, like Francis Ford Coppola, have strongly agreed with him (Coppola went on to call the movie franchise trend at large 'despicable').

Read more: Scorsese says Marvel movies have ‘no mystery and no risk’

Asked if he thinks that superhero movies are bad for cinema, told told The Hollywood Reporter: “I think that's not true. I think it's unfortunate.

“I think myself and everyone who works on these movies loves cinema, loves movies, loves going to the movies, loves to watch a communal experience in a movie theatre full of people.”

For his part, Scorsese has sought to clarify his comments somewhat, agreeing that while he acknowledges the movies are not for him, and are well crafted, he wrote in a lengthy op-ed in The New York Times that he objects the fact that he feels there is 'no mystery and no risk'.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - NOVEMBER 5: Martin Scorsese attends a special screening of 'The Irishman' at the Castro Theatre on November 5, 2019 in San Francisco, California. Photo: Michael Pegram/imageSPACE/MediaPunch /IPX
Martin Scorsese (Credit: Michael Pegram/imageSPACE/MediaPunch/IPX)

Feige countered this, saying: “We did Civil War. We had our two most popular characters get into a very serious theological and physical altercation.

“We killed half of our characters at the end of a movie [Avengers: Infinity War]. I think it's fun for us to take our success and use it to take risks and go in different places.”

Of course, it's worth noting that nearly all the characters killed off in Infinity War were brought back from the dead in its sequel Endgame.

"Everybody has a different definition of cinema,” Feige goes on. “Everybody has a different definition of art. Everybody has a different definition of risk.

Read more: Bob Iger takes aim at Scorsese and Coppola’s ‘b**ching’ over Marvel

“Some people don't think it's cinema. Everybody is entitled to their opinion. Everyone is entitled to repeat that opinion. Everyone is entitled to write op-eds about that opinion, and I look forward to what will happen next. But in the meantime, we're going to keep making movies.”

Indeed they are.

Next up for Marvel is the Black Widow movie set for May 2020, The Eternals for November 2020, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings for February 2021 and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness for May 2021.