Why Tarantino Loves “Shang-Chi” but Won’t Ever Make a Marvel Movie

An amateur of independent cinema, Quentin Tarantino is unlikely to have anything to do with huge superhero stories in his own career, but there’s something in the director’s biography that Marvel fans can relate to.

Having grown up in the 1970s, Tarantino was dividing his time between cinema theatres and home where he would watch movies on tapes, though in the meantime he would also make some friends by exchanging comic books.

In fact, Tarantino even had his own favorite among Marvel comics and, despite his own dislike for the superhero giant, kept the love for the story for further years.

Quentin Tarantino Calls “Shang-Chi, Master of Kung-Fu” His Favorite Comic Book

While he doesn’t seem like a Marvel guy at all, Tarantino admitted to having been a huge fan of comic books back when he was a kid, recalling the times when he would show off with his collection of comics in front of other children in the neighbourhood.

He also revealed that “Shang-Chi, Master of Kung-Fu” has been his favorite ever since it came out in 1974.

“It was really great…I collected comic books, and it was kind of cool because back then, if you lived in the suburbs or if you lived in a project, it didn’t matter; you probably had about six kids in the general area that collected comic books”, Tarantino said in one of the interviews shared by Angel Fire.

Quentin Tarantino Repeatedly Slammed Marvel For “Marvel-ization of Hollywood”

As Tarantino has kept his love for several Marvel characters to this day, he has become fully convinced that it’s these characters that deserve to be called stars, not the actors that actually play them.

The director seemingly made a reference to Jennifer Aniston’s words about Hollywood having no real stars at the moment when he revealed his own thoughts about Marvel’s controversial impact on the movie industry.

“Part of the Marvel-ization of Hollywood is…you have all these actors who have become famous playing these characters. But they’re not movie stars. Right? Captain America is the star. Or Thor is the star. I mean, I’m not the first person to say that. I think that’s been said a zillion times…but it’s like, you know, it’s these franchise characters that become a star”, Tarantino revealed during a conversation on the “2 Bears, 1 Cave” podcast several years ago.

Earlier, he also confirmed he wasn’t going to ever consider making a Marvel movie since “I’m not a hired hand. I’m not looking for a job” (via Los Angeles Times).