It's Now Martin Scorsese And Francis Ford Coppola Vs. Marvel

It appears we are on the brink of a cinematic civil war. Two weeks ago, in an interview with Empire Magazine, acclaimed director Martin Scorsese caused a decent amount of chaos after comparing Marvel films to "theme parks" and declaring them "not cinema." While his opinion angered many Marvel fans, it wasn't until renowned director Francis Ford Coppola publicly agreed with Scorsese by telling France 24 at the Lumière Film Festival that he found the superhero films to be "despicable."

When Twitter, caught wind of Coppola's words, cinephiles took to their accounts to either vehemently disagree or defend arguably the two greatest directors of all time. Below are some of their reactions.

Marvel director James Gunn, who responded to Scorses initially, wrote a very thoughtful response following Coppola's interview.

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Many of our grandfathers thought all gangster movies were the same, often calling them “despicable”. Some of our great grandfathers thought the same of westerns, and believed the films of John Ford, Sam Peckinpah, and Sergio Leone were all exactly the same. I remember a great uncle to whom I was raving about Star Wars. He responded by saying, “I saw that when it was called 2001, and, boy, was it boring!” Superheroes are simply today’s gangsters/cowboys/outer space adventurers. Some superhero films are awful, some are beautiful. Like westerns and gangster movies (and before that, just MOVIES), not everyone will be able to appreciate them, even some geniuses. And that’s okay. ❤️

A post shared by James Gunn (@jamesgunn) on Oct 20, 2019 at 11:51am PDT

Fans of the MCU quickly came to mock Coppola.

Looking forward to hearing how Francis Ford Coppola is actually just jealous of Marvel’s success and doesn’t understand the intricacies of the em cee you

(and to think nerds had a meltdown over Scorsese’s polite shrugging dismissal lol, someone call an ambulance in advance now) pic.twitter.com/TkGp0aLSPH

— Freddy Freeman (@wyattyhalpert) October 20, 2019

 
And soon, the geriatric jokes were all over Twitter.

It sounds like someone’s grandpa complaining about Elvis shaking his hips. https://t.co/0vICJ61wtN

— Judd Apatow (@JuddApatow) October 20, 2019

Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola 👇🏻 pic.twitter.com/EFPEXSQiIv

— Jeff K. (@capedcrus8r) October 20, 2019

 
Ok but who doesn't love Statler and Waldorf?

Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola watching Marvel movies pic.twitter.com/2tqEzRHKCx

— Francisco Pedro (@fpedro1988) October 20, 2019

Even Kubrick resurrected to join the debate.

BREAKING: Stanley Kubrick’s ghost disagrees with Scorsese and Coppola. “I f*cking loved Thor Ragnarok. And I’m dead!” pic.twitter.com/fzl8VxI4jP

— 🆃🅷🅴 🆂🆃🆄🅳🅸🅾 🅴🆇🅴🅲 (@studioexec1) October 20, 2019

Say what you will about Marvel, but at LEAST they cast POC and women in speaking and main roles…unlike #coppola and #Scorsese pic.twitter.com/7sGpuTyVDu

— el gee (@lmgilson5927) October 20, 2019

#Marvel Studios responds to Francis Ford Coppola: pic.twitter.com/ZuHFA1j4KG

— Jeff K. (@capedcrus8r) October 20, 2019

Coppola and Scorsese didn’t get Star Wars. Why would anyone expect them to get Marvel movies?

— Jose Molina (@JoseMolinaTV) October 21, 2019

Of course, many joined in to defend Scorsese and Coppola's opinions.

As a bona fide Phase One Marvel writer, I'm not bothered by Coppola's remarks in the least. He's entitled to his tastes, he's Francis Ford Coppola for chrissakes. And if he thinks Thor is one of the worst movies he ever heard of, well… pic.twitter.com/dgNZv2Jzcm

— Zack Stentz (@MuseZack) October 21, 2019

The Russos said The Godfather influenced Civil War, the director of The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola) said Marvel movies are despicable! 😂😂😂😂😭😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/lyppqUugaI

— 🌷🌸🌹🌺🌻🌼 ○ Primus Interpares (@LiveLoveLupe) October 20, 2019

Okay, it was amusing when offended fanbois claimed Martin Scorsese didn't understand movies and only made gangster pictures.

It is officially hilarious that offended fanbois are claiming that Francis Ford Coppola doesn't understand movies and only made gangster pictures. pic.twitter.com/3uKwOPzpR4

— Movies Silently (@MoviesSilently) October 20, 2019

 
A special shoutout was even made to some of Coppola's forgotten films.

Yeah Francis Ford Coppola made The Godfather or whatever but let’s talk about some REAL cinema pic.twitter.com/cWplYNoPNt

— NastyChinHipster (@NastyChinHipstr) October 20, 2019

Francis Coppola, another one of the old gods, just let Marvel have the full clip.
"Martin was kind when he said it's not cinema. He didn't say it's despicable, WHICH I JUST SAY IT IS!"💥💥💥💥 pic.twitter.com/7wZTqml5Tn

— 🌷🌸🌹🌺🌻🌼 ○ Primus Interpares (@LiveLoveLupe) October 20, 2019

 
Just the G.O.A.T.'s being goats.

Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola having a leisurely walk after trash-talking Marvel. pic.twitter.com/1sPu3xFPXP

— James Imperious Lex (@ImperiousLex) October 20, 2019

Me, an academic, contemplating Scorsese & Coppola against the contemporary cinematic landscape:
Me, a cinephile, cheering for my superheroes Scorsese & Coppola: pic.twitter.com/QJtL53LLnB

— Zach Cheney (@zacheney) October 20, 2019

And yet, to many users, this debate just left them wondering why we all just can't get along?

Scorsese and Coppola are not into Marvel movies? How does that hurt anyone or change anything? Marvel will still make billions and they are still cinema icons that made masterpieces that will outlive us all. Win win! Why do we have to chose? pic.twitter.com/cPUqRpRuuQ

— Jorge R. Gutierrez (@mexopolis) October 20, 2019

Love Coppola. Love Scorsese (he almost made my novel The Winter of Frankie Machine).

I disagree with their recent statements. It's not superhero films vs. other films.

It's HOW we get people into THEATERS to see ALL TYPES of different films.

And how to save adult dramas.

— Don Winslow (@donwinslow) October 21, 2019

At least we can all agree that the below film pitch would be an absolute hit.

Movie pitch: Old guy misadventure comedy where Coppola & Scorsese are on their way to Cannes but accidentally find themselves at a Comic-Con & can’t seem to get out. They find themselves in cosplay, which is hilarious cuz nobody recognizes them anyway. I call it “Apocalypse POW!”

— Luke BrundleBoyce 🎃 (@lukeslens) October 21, 2019