There have been several blunt opinions about superhero movies expressed as of late. It seems that the most important question any major Hollywood star can be asked is, "What do you think of all the superhero movies?" Well, it’s Emma Thompson’s turn to answer the question now, and while she doesn’t hate the genre as a whole, she does have it out for one particular tights-wearing super human: Spider-Man.
Vulture interviewed Thompson about a variety of topics, and asked her feelings on the superhero genre. While she says she is getting a bit cynical about the whole thing, she also called out your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man by name. She said:
If I see yet another Spider-Man, I’m going to have to actually hang myself. I can’t do it anymore! They’re all marvelous, but how many times can you make this franchise, for crying out loud?
To be fair, Thompson isn’t saying anything that the most die hard supporter of superhero films isn’t also saying. In fact, that same die hard fan might take issue with her statement that "they’re all marvelous." At this point, the wall-crawler is really batting under .500. She doesn’t say anything about the fact that they are about to make the franchise again. We really hope she knows about it, or we may have to put her on suicide watch in the summer of 2017.
Thompson does say she was a fan of the original Christopher Reeve Superman film, and that she is also looking forward to the eventual Wonder Woman movie. It’s clear that she’s not making her comments from an "old Hollywood" position that these movies are bad or bad for film, rather she maybe wishes there weren’t as many of them, as they always own the box office.
Thompson’s comments follow on the heels of director Steven Spielberg being asked the same question just the other day. Spielberg didn’t say there was anything wrong with the movies either, just that a day will come when they won't be as popular. The internet, of course, really appreciated his nuanced position. We fully expect Emma Thompson will now be painted as the J. Jonah Jameson of Hollywood, trying to take down Spider-Man. If anything she’s anti-rebooting franchises 10 minutes after the last one ended, and we can get behind that.
We really hope Emma Thompson doesn’t hang herself after she goes to see Captain America: Civil War next summer. She’s a fantastic actress and the world would be a sadder place without her. Even if it is a world that can’t ever seem to stop making Spider-Man movies.
