James Gunn Reacts To Francis Ford Coppola Dissing Marvel Movies

Call him the guardian of the Marvel galaxy.

“Guardians of the Galaxy” director James Gunn Sunday again fended off criticism of Marvel superhero movies.

“The Godfather” director Francis Ford Coppola called the films “despicable” ― not to mention unenlightening and uninspiring ― at a film festival in France over the weekend, following similar critiques from fellow director Martin Scorsese.

“Martin was being kind when he said it wasn’t cinema,” Coppola said, per Variety. “He didn’t say it was despicable, which is what I say.”

Scorsese had said the films were “not cinema” in an interview earlier this month. Jennifer Aniston also recently put down the comic book fare in an interview.

Robert Downey Jr., who played Iron Man for more than a decade, and Natalie Portman of “Thor” defended the flicks. But Gunn has taken a prominent role in the superheroic effort to fight back for the billions-earning blockbusters.

Gunn did not mention Coppola by name, but he did use “despicable” in his response Sunday on Instagram.

“Many of our grandfathers thought all gangster movies were the same, often calling them ‘despicable’,” Gunn wrote. “Some of our great grandfathers thought the same of westerns and believed the films of John Ford, Sam Peckinpah, and Sergio Leone were all exactly the same.”

Gunn likened the bias to a certain space opera that has enchanted film fans for ages.

“I remember a great uncle to whom I was raving about Star Wars,” Gunn wrote. “He responded by saying, ‘I saw that when it was called 2001, and, boy, was it boring!’ Superheroes are simply today’s gangsters/cowboys/outer space adventurers. Some superhero films are awful, some are beautiful. Like westerns and gangster movies (and before that, just MOVIES), not everyone will be able to appreciate them, even some geniuses. And that’s okay. ❤️”

Gunn had tried to maintain a diplomatic tone in replying to Scorsese’s words as well.

“Martin Scorsese is one of my 5 favorite living filmmakers,” he wrote on Twitter. “I was outraged when people picketed The Last Temptation of Christ without having seen the film. I’m saddened that he’s now judging my films in the same way.”