There are certain things that you should not criticize on the internet: babies, animals, and Keanu Reeves, but of course that sometimes happens anyway. At some point over the last year or so, the Marvel universe became a popular subject to dunk on, for various reasons. Look, you can’t churn out constant content without making a few hundred enemies. One of those enemies, it seems, might have been Jamie Lee Curtis. Or at least it was Jamie Lee Curtis, until she backtracked.
While at Comic Con last week, Curtis was interviewed alongside her Borderlands co-stars (that’s a whole other topic) where they were asked to name which phase Marvel is currently in, to which Curtis responded, “Bad.” Perhaps she saw Madame Web?
This isn’t the first time Curtis has taken a jab at Marvel, but she quickly backtracked, and posted a statement on social media claiming that she will no longer criticize Marvel: “My comments about Marvel were stupid and I will do better. I’ve reached out to Kevin Feige and will no longer play in that mud slinging sandbox of competition we call the internet nor will I engage in the toilet paper promotion or game play that is designed for clicks not content.” But it didn’t end there.
Ryan Reynolds, who is currently starring in Marvel’s first real hit in years, doesn’t think that Curtis was wrong with her initial comment.
Wait, is everyone expected to apologize for slamming Marvel post-Endgame? https://t.co/kRxPmILfXl
— Ryan Reynolds (@VancityReynolds) August 1, 2024
Avengers: Endgame was released in 2019 and made over $2 billion at the box office, though it sparked a major shift in the Marvel universe. The many follow-up movies and shows have not made quite an impact as the Avengers gang, which is why the studio has been hearing criticism, though not all of it was tied to the movies themselves.
Reynolds seems to think that it’s okay to for people to made valid criticisms of the franchise, which is a reason why Deadpool became a whole series dedicated to mocking those superhero tropes. Still, we probably won’t see Janie Lee Curtis sitting in a theater with her Wolverine popcorn bucket anytime soon. Probably.