If anyone has a right to be jaded about superhero movies, it’s George Miller. Miller posses one of the great what-if superhero stories, having spent several years in the 2000s working on “Justice League Mortal,” a $200 million dollar movie that would have featured Armie Hammer as Batman and D.J. Cotrona as Superman. Due to a host of factors — a perfect storm of uncertain tax credits, inflating budgets, and Hollywood labor issues — that movie was never made, but Miller’s cache as a pseudo-superhero auteur means he will continue to field questions about the state of the industry until his dying day.
And naturally, with Miller at the Cannes Film Festival to premiere his much-anticipated “Three Hundred Years of Longing,” the director was asked to weigh in on the sustainability of superhero films. As reported by The Playlist, this question was triggered by a few quick homages to comic books as a medium in his new film. “They endure and have endured anyway,” Miller responded. “The one thing you will be certain of is that they will change; they will morph into something else. Marvel and the DC Universe are basically the vestiges of the Greek and Norse and Roman mythologies. There’s a direct equivalence between each of those characters.”
“We’re going through an era in which I think we’re expressing through moving image narrative these stories,” the director added. “They’re echoes of the past, but they’re adjusted to have meaning to us.” Those who were expecting either complete praise or utter condemnation from Miller may be disappointed by this answer, but it feels like an authentic perspective from a student of stories. One of the running themes in Miller’s work is mythology and storytelling; therefore, it’s no surprise that his perspective on superhero movies is more rooted in historical trends and mythological trends.
Still, congratulations to Miller for successfully navigating his first award-season hurdle. With the obligatory Marvel question out of the way — and neither superhero protagonists nor detractors armed with enough ammunition to keep his comments alive for more than a single news cycle — Miller can go back to talking about, you know, the movie that he made and premiered at Cannes. Oh, and by the way: it’s actually pretty damn good.
Follow along with all our coverage from the 2022 Cannes Film Festival.