Yes, Mr. Scorcese, Superhero Movies are Cinema

 “…told your film producers that if they made anything at all they would have to make and remake Earnest Hemingway. My God, how many times have I seen For Whom the Bell Tolls done! Thirty different versions. All realistic. Oh, realism! Oh, here, oh, now, oh hell!” 


  • Ray Bradbury, The Martian Chronicles


In October of last year, celebrated director Martin Scorsese made headlines when he announced his opposition to superhero films, stating that they weren’t even “real cinema.” It’s an opinion that many people, including dedicated cinephiles, often share. But is it true? Do superhero movies qualify as art?

There are, of course, a lot of problems with superhero movies. There are often big, overdramatic fight scenes that are overly dependent on CGI. They often repeat the same tired cliches, retell the same stories over and over (in the new millennium, the story of Spider-Man has been told in three separate incarnations). For the most part, most of these films don’t have any deep meaningful messages; you’re more likely to walk away from a superhero film talking about how cool the fight scenes were, rather than the deep moral questions it raised. 

It’s not that these movies are bad, necessarily- Avengers: Endgame not only broke the record for the highest grossing film of all time, but scored a 94 on the review website Rotten Tomatoes. But do these movies qualify as art?

To answer that, we first have to talk about what exactly superhero movies bring to the table: what exactly are the positives of these colorful metahuman conflicts? The first is representation. Black Panther made history as the highest grossing film by an African-American director, as well as featuring an almost entirely black cast, with commentary on race relations in America woven into the story (between the battles with armored rhinos).

Wonder Woman had a female director, and depicted a strong female protagonist fighting her way through World War I. Both of these movies are revolutionary, not necessarily because of their message (there are plenty of movies that promote these causes) but because they showed their appeal to a mass audience. Sure, small-budget art house films might talk about the issues of being black in America- but when Marvel does it, you know that it’s reaching a much larger audience, a lot of whom are kids. 

Nor is this necessarily a “new” problem. There are always movies that have been dismissed as childish marketing attempts. The monster movies of the 30s, the Westerns of the 50s; even Star Wars was dismissed as just a fad at one time. If these movies are as cheap and as gimmicky as critics claim, what is it about these films that draws people to them? 

I remember my first time seeing Avengers: Endgame. A week after it had been released, after carefully avoiding all spoilers, my best friend and I went and saw the movie. We sat in the front row. 

It had been a rough week; APs were getting closer, the marking period was near ending, and we had just begun applying to college. However, we had been waiting for this moment for years. 

I think perhaps the most important aspect of art is that it provokes a catharsis, that in watching it you feel the swell of emotions along with these characters. I’ll be the first admit, what I was watching was ridiculous. It was a super soldier with a magic hammer trying to destroy a purple alien who wants to use magic space rocks to destroy the universe. 

Yet, as I watched it, a wave of emotion crashed over me. I remembered my father reading me Spider-Man when I was three years old; all the other movies I had seen with these characters over the years; talking with my friends, making predictions of what was going to happen. 

Silly? Yes. But I’ve never heard anyone who said art needs to be serious. 

Is it the same movie over and over again? Perhaps it leans too heavily into cliches, but I’d dare you to find any art form that does not have repetition.

Are these movies masterpieces? Probably not. But they provoke a catharsis; they create relatable characters; they provoke discussion. 

Perhaps most importantly, they provide one of the most essential services of cinema: an escape. Sometimes, I don’t want to watch a movie about the horrors of everyday life, about the suffering millions that blanket the Earth. I know. I know life sucks sometimes. But one of the most vital functions that cinema performs is that it allows us to forget, if only for a little while, about the things that worry us, and see a movie where the good guys can win. 

If you don’t like superhero movies, that’s fine. They’re not for everyone. But I fail to see a reason why people feel the need to lambaste these films that provide an escape for so many people. 

Sure, we need new movies, ones that challenge the status quo and introduce new ideas. But sometimes, all you want is an ultimate battle for the soul of universe with aliens and gods… and that’s ok.