Tom Holland, whose career skyrocketed after his portrayal of Spiderman, said the scope of cinematic art was in no way diluted in superhero movies and Martin Scorsese‘s view that this was a peripheral genre of film-making was incorrect.

“You can ask Scorsese, ‘Would you want to make a Marvel movie?’ but he doesn’t know what it’s like because he’s never made one,” Tom said. 

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Commenting on superhero films in an interview to a magazine 2019, Scorsese had said: “I don’t see them. I tried, you know? But that’s not cinema. Honestly, the closest I can think of them, as well made as they are, with actors doing the best they can under the circumstances, is theme parks. It isn’t the cinema of human beings trying to convey emotional, psychological experiences to another human being.” 

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Scorsese’s statement sparked a controversy, creating a divide among cinephiles across the globe. Unlike the DC cineverse, the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) has witnessed commercial success in the past decade. Their 2019 release ‘Avengers: Endgame’ currently holds the title of the second highest-grossing ($2.79 billion) movie of all time, trailing close behind ‘Avatar’ ($2.8 billion), the 2009 science fiction film directed by Scorsese’s Canadian peer, James Cameron.

“I’ve made Marvel movies and I’ve also made movies that have been in the conversation in the world of the Oscars, and the only difference, really, is one is much more expensive than the other,” he said. “But the way I break down the character, the way the director etches out the arc of the story and characters — it’s all the same, just done on a different scale. So I do think that’s real art,” Tom added.

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Tom has also starred in films such as last year’s ‘The Devil All The Time’ and ‘Cherry’, the latter directed by the Marvel-famed Russo brothers.

He believes that his fellow Avengers co-stars would share his viewpoint. “When you’re making these films, you know that good or bad, millions of people will see them,” he explained, “whereas when you’re making a small indie film, if it’s not very good no one will watch it, so it comes with different levels of pressure. I mean, you can also ask Benedict Cumberbatch or Robert Downey Jr. or Scarlett Johansson — people who have made the kinds of movies that are ‘Oscar-worthy’ and also made superhero movies — and they will tell you that they’re the same, just on a different scale,” he said.

Benedict is one of the front-runners for the Best Actor Oscar this year for his performance in ‘The Power of Dog’.

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Scorsese is undoubtedly among the most respected filmmakers in Hollywood, having made films such as ‘Taxi Driver’, ‘Gangs of New York’, ‘The Irishman’, ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’, and others. Tom Holland, being a young actor in Hollywood and also as a former child actor in the industry, maybe walking into the Oscar season with a nomination, as his latest release – another Marvel film – ‘Spiderman: No Way Home’ is rumoured to gather up a bunch of nominations.