Robert Downey Jr. calls Tarantino Marvel criticism “a waste of time”

Robert Downey Jr. has hit back at Quentin Tarantino‘s criticism of Marvel, calling it a “waste of time”.

The Iron Man actor was asked about recent backlash against the major comic book studios, including Tarantino who had said he thought that Marvel actors were not “movie stars”.

“I think our opinions on these matters say a lot about us,” Downey Jr. began when discussing the ongoing debate in an interview with Deadline.

“I think that we are in a time and place that I unwittingly contributed to, where IP has taken precedence over principle and personality. But it’s a double-edged sword.

“A piece of IP is only as good as the human talent you get to represent it, and you can have some great IP even if it’s coming from an auteur or a national treasure of a writer-director, and if you don’t have the right kind of artist playing that role, you’ll never know how good it could have been.”

The actor went on: “I think that creatively it is a waste of time to be at war with ourselves. I think this is a time when everything is so much more fragmented now that I think you have this kind of bifurcation.

“Throwing stones one way or another … and I’ve had my reactions in the past when people said things that I felt were discrediting my integrity … I go, “You know what? Let’s just get over it. We’re all a community. There’s enough room for everything,” and thank God for Top Gun: Maverick and Avatar: The Way of Water. That’s all I have to say. We need the big stuff to make room for films like Armageddon Time.”

Downey Jr. added that he does not believe in “trickle down entertainment” but that he advocates for “reinvention” in the film industry.

He added: “Reinvent yourself before you decide that somebody else doesn’t know what they’re doing or that something is keeping you from doing your best, or that something is better than something else.”

Quentin Tarantino, who is currently promoting his new book Cinema Speculation, recently asserted the modern movie era is one of “the worst in Hollywood history”.

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