For a genre that’s spent nearly a century killing off, replacing, reviving and recasting its protagonists, the cinematic incarnations of superheroes sure are a touchy subject. With that in mind, now may be a better time than ever to ascertain: Have Marvel and DC have been making movie stars all these years? Or have the actors themselves turned the MCU into what it is in this current era?The answer, as usual, is a bit complicated. But after Quentin Tarantino sparked controversy for his recent criticisms of Marvel, his observations about movie stardom sure feel like the newer aspect to an otherwise tired debate. Surely, Tarantino is not the first one to point this out. Yet in 2022, can Tom Cruise and Dwayne Johnson really be considered the last specimens of the dying movie star breed?RELATED: What Marvel Fans Should Look Out For In The MCU's Phase Five

The Times They Are a-Changin'

Spider-Man No Way Home Robert Downey Jr Iron Man Tony Stark

The Marvel phenomenon didn't exactly happen overnight. Instead, movie and comic book enthusiasts have had two decades to adjust to the idea and changes brought on by Hollywood’s so-called Marvelization. Judging from the way things started, it seems Tarantino might have been — at least partly — wrong. Blade, X-Men, and early Marvel films all called upon the talent of household names such as Wesley Snipes, Halle Berry, Robert Downey Jr., and Edward Norton, respectively. However, the early 2000s also revealed that Marvel’s franchises were attractive enough so that relatively unknown actors — Hugh Jackman, Tobey Maguire, and a trifecta of Chrises — could get their first huge career breaks starring in such films.

Scarlett Johansson’s casting as Black Widow is the move that confirmed a change in trend where superhero movies no longer needed to sign household names to gain clout. Instead, very famous actors were offered roles in such films to boost their own brands and cash a hefty paycheck at the same time. Perhaps no single actor understood this better than Anthony Mackie, who back in 2018 seemed to agree with Tarantino by admitting people weren’t going to see him or Sebastian Stan duke it out with Captain America, but rather the Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

The current landscape still offers a bit of both. Tom Holland is a Marvel-made movie star, but Benedict Cumberbatch is the name that makes Doctor Strange more appealing to a wider audience — Leonardo DiCaprio and Timothée Chalamet don't care about superhero movies. Margot Robbie doesn’t need Harley Quinn, but the DC Universe could surely use Robbie. Moving forward, it’s this mixed nature that will dominate the genre, especially with bigger names signing on for either short-lived or secondary roles (think Christian Bale and Russell Crowe in Thor: Love and Thunder).

For many, comic book characters were such big parts of their formative years that they already held a special place in their hearts before Marvel started making movies. Even MCU newcomers have developed a similar bond. Nevertheless, just because Mackie and Tarantino are right, does not mean the same holds true all across. For every Marvel recast (think War Machine and Thunderbolt Ross), there are superheroes whose movie stars simply cannot be substituted, as the studios themselves have shown us.

Not All Heroes Are The Same

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Simu Liu, a fresh face in the MCU, has so far been the only actor to fire back at Tarantino’s remarks. Admittedly, despite possibly being Phase Four’s most successful newcomer, he’s yet to attain irreplaceable status for Marvel. The same cannot be said of people like Henry Cavill, Chadwick Boseman, Gal Gadot, and Downey Jr. The former is the perfect example of a movie star forged by superhero movies.

Not only is Cavill “this generation’s Superman” (as certified movie star Dwayne Johnson would put it), he’s also Geralt of Rivia. Both DC’s inability to replace him and the massive backlash to the actor leaving The Witcher elevates him to a different category. Ryan Coogler and Marvel Studios’ decision not to recast T’Challa amid Boseman’s tragic passing is also further evidence of this.

In a year that saw Top Gun: Maverick as its most successful movie, it’s clear people are still willing to go to theaters to see Tom Cruise. He’s a rare commodity from the 80s and 90s who has retained his movie star value after all these years. No superhero can match that, not even Johnson, as seen from Black Adam’s lackluster box office performance, which is likely due to his character being an obscure comic book antihero.

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Maybe a better assessment of the Marvelization of movie stardom should be that superheroes are the best shot at obtaining as much fame as Chris Pratt, who’s practically everywhere these days. However, no MCU blockbuster currently provides assurance of such thing. Marvel’s success ought to be celebrated as it has allowed for mid-tier comic characters like Shang-Chi to get their own movies. At the same time, it should be humbly embraced by a studio that’s now having to accept the fact that fans are not buying into new projects like they used to.

Next year’s Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning and the MCU’s slate will be yet another reminder of this. If the movie industry has changed to favor guaranteed money-making blockbusters even more, then so has the nature of its stars. If anyone wants to break that cycle, then the best way to do it is to support great films that don’t have lots of expensive CGI and hype post-credits scenes, regardless of who's starring in them, whether it's old-fashioned movie icons, Marvel actors or stars in the making.

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