Quentin Tarantino Addresses Scorsese's Marvel Comments & Wanting To Cast Laurence Fishburne As Luke Cage

Since the release of the Netflix series, as well as the popularity of all things Marvel, the superhero Luke Cage has gone from C-list to the A-list, with people that have never read a comic book aware of who the hero actually is. But way back before then, in the ancient era known as the 1990s, Quentin Tarantino had the idea for a “Luke Cage” film, but it never came to be. And now, we have a better idea of why that project about a bulletproof hero eventually was shot down.

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Speaking on Amy Schumer’s “3 Girls, 1 Keith” podcast, Tarantino explained what attracted him to a possible “Luke Cage” film, and why he eventually walked away from the idea.

“There was a time before all this Marvel shit was coming out,” Tarantino explained. “It was after ‘Reservoir Dogs,’ it was before ‘Pulp Fiction,’ and I had thought about doing ‘Luke Cage.’ Growing up I was a big comic-book collector, and my two favorite [comic books] were ‘Luke Cage: Hero for Hire,’ later ‘Luke Cage: Power Man,’ and ‘Shang-Chi: Master of Kung Fu.’…My only hero was Luke Cage.”

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He added, “Actually, ‘Luke Cage’ would have been my ‘Jackie Brown,’ after ‘Pulp Fiction.’ What dissuaded me … was my comic-geek friends talked me out of it. Because I had an idea that Larry Fishburne would’ve been the perfect guy to play Luke Cage… But all my friends were like, ‘It’s got to be Wesley Snipes.’ And I go, ‘Look, I like Wesley Snipes, but I mean, Larry Fishburne is practically Marlon Brando. I think Fish is the man.’ And they’re like, ‘Yeah, but he’d have to get in shape in a big way. Snipes is that way already!’ And I go, ‘Fuck that! That’s not that important! Fuck you, you ruined the whole damn thing!’”

As for the idea that Martin Scorsese says that Marvel films aren’t cinema, Tarantino didn’t really delve into that so much but did comment on the fact that Scorsese is the one who brought it up. The filmmaker thinks that anyone shocked by Scorsese’s comments just isn’t paying attention.

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“Generationally, does anyone think [Scorsese’s] going to be a big fan of ‘Captain Marvel,’ ‘Doctor Strange,’ and [‘Ant-Man & the Wasp‘]?” Tarantino joked. “You could have guessed that was going to be his reaction.”

Fair point, Mr. Tarantino.

You can listen to the whole episode below (the Marvel comments begin around the 33:50 mark):