Silly us. We thought that once Kevin Feige gave the final word about the Martin Scorsese vs. Marvel thing, the world would just move on. Well, we failed to remember that we are approaching awards season, which means that every time “Avengers: Endgame” gets a trophy, this whole debate will likely fire right back up. And recently, it happened at the Hollywood Film Awards, where actor (and Hulk) Mark Ruffalo offered some thoughts about what constitutes real “cinema.”
Ruffalo was recently attending the Hollywood Film Awards (via THR), where he was tasked with presenting Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige with the Best Blockbuster Award for ‘Endgame.’ But before he handed over the trophy, he spoke about why the most recent ‘Avengers’ film fits in the criteria for cinema.
“The team at Marvel Studios did something that brought the whole world together,” said Ruffalo. “It’s not something you can do with just spectacle alone, by the way, but there’s plenty of that.”
He continued, “What really speaks to people about these movies, I think, is the heart and humanity of characters, that’s what makes ‘Avengers: Endgame’ so powerful to witness — these characters that care about and reckon with the world around them … to watch them struggle and survive and sometimes even say goodbye. That’s what makes it cinema.”
Whether or not you agree with Ruffalo is a matter of opinion, but you do have to give him credit for perhaps the best, most reasonable explanation for why the films that are released by Marvel, and quality superhero films, in general, are still cinema, even under the rules presented by Scorsese.
If you’re somewhat sick of this debate, we totally understand. Unfortunately, unlike other films that have two or three major stars, there are over two dozen in “Avengers: Endgame,” which means that we’re likely in for a long few months of answering the question of what qualifies as “cinema.” Joy.