As much as the Marvel Cinematic Universe has a large fandom commending its pieces and all the superheroic moves it pulls, it also seems to have picked a fight back in 2019 when Martin Scorsese openly roasted the films for not being cinema. Now, years later, the upcoming Thunderbolts* appears to be the one inevitably proving him right.
While this forthcoming movie has as extensive marketing as pretty much every single piece before it, this time around, its recent marketing campaign has seriously caught the attention of fans worldwide with the Absolute Cinema meme. To say the least, the newly released trailer only perfectly proves that Scorsese was always right without even lifting a finger.
Thunderbolts* new marketing campaign is proving Martin Scorsese right
In the latest turn of events for Florence Pugh‘s upcoming superhero flick, Thunderbolts*, a new minute-long trailer was released, though this one flaunted a rather noticeable credit from the studios: “Absolute Cinema.” And, for the record, yes, these words are referencing the very meme/reaction image that was born out of Martin Scorsese‘s words more than half a decade ago, after he picked a culture war with the franchise (see here for reference).
Over the years, the Killers of the Flower Moon helmer has been openly vocal about his criticism of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, all of which first caught mad fire back in 2019 when he dragged the studio in for producing what he deemed as “audiovisual entertainment” bereft of “risk.” In fact, in a New York Times essay from him that followed, he even defended his statement, claiming he views those projects as “closer to theme parks than they are to movies.”
Back then, Scorsese was vocally critical of the multi-billionaire saga as he noted: “What’s not there is revelation, mystery or genuine emotional danger. Nothing is at risk. The pictures are made to satisfy a specific set of demands, and they are designed as variations on a finite number of themes. That’s the nature of modern film franchises: market-researched, audience-tested, vetted, modified, revetted, and remodified until they’re ready for consumption.”
Now this new trailer for Sebastian Stan‘s film is bringing light to that once again. For one, it boasts captions like “From the stars of Midsommar, A Different Man, & You Hurt My Feelings,” “The writers & director of Beef,” “The cinematographer of The Green Knight,” “The production designer of Hereditary,” “The editor of Minari,” and “The composers of Everything Everywhere All At Once” — all of which are, notably, flicks by A24.
That said, this new campaign from Marvel ostensibly appears to be indicating a new direction and tone for the upcoming superhero movie—which is nowhere close to the definition of arthouse or independent cinema—as audiences worldwide continue to grapple with superhero fatigue, leading to more or less lackluster box office numbers for the super-franchise. And all of this, of course, is inevitably proving that Scorsese was, in fact, right all along.
Fans react to Thunderbolts* new marketing campaign and trailer
Taking to X, fans have been pointing out the same thing about how, years after inadvertently starting a culture war with what is the biggest and currently the highest-grossing film franchise in the history of Hollywood, the multiple times Oscar-nominated filmmaker Martin Scorsese actually won and proved he was always right without even so much as having to lift his finger. Here’s a sneak peek into the sarcastic comments of that some of the fans have to say:
Kinda funny how one little old man inadvertently started culture war against the biggest film franchise in history and now years later it’s clear that he won. He didn’t even have to do anything https://t.co/JjYnbHVskH
— you can call me Tim (new acc) (@timtimtim812) March 8, 2025
It’s not even enjoyable to make fun of MCU anymore. Like kicking somebody when they’re down
— you can call me Tim (new acc) (@timtimtim812) March 8, 2025
THEY WERENT EVEN LIKE THEME PARK RIDES WHEN HE FIRST COMMENTED THAT!😭 they genuinely voluntarily self destructed after Scorsese made the comments
— mav🦇 (@DevilOfGotham) March 9, 2025
it’s even funnier that the general quality of the MCU has gone downhill since he made those comments too lmfao
— Archie ☮︎ (@ArchieECH) March 9, 2025
I think we would have gotten to the same place with or without Scorsese’s comments, but he was definitely prescient.
— JOLTZ (@jrholtz) March 9, 2025
Am I the only one who thinks that ever since Martin Scorsese said that quote the quality and reception of Marvel movies started to go down hell?
— Bluegatito (@Bluegatito11) March 9, 2025
The Thunderbolts marketing has the most desperate move I’ve seen by a major studio to make the movie seem like it’s some arthouse cinema
— 𝐋𝐎𝐆𝐀𝐍 (@nemxfoenirevlow) March 9, 2025
To put it in a nutshell, this new marketing campaign has inadvertently proven Scorsese’s criticism of Marvel, with the upcoming film’s attempt to seem like arthouse cinema by boasting credits from A24 films only highlighting the disconnect between the MCU’s commercial appeal and its artistic merit. As the superhero fatigue continues to affect box office numbers, it remains to be seen whether all of this will pay off or further prove Scorsese’s point.
Thunderbolts* is set to hit the screens on May 2.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
