Nicolas Cage Sparks Fan Debate After Saying The Marvel Cinematic Universe Is Turning Into A 'Glorified WWE'

Actor Nicolas Cage has never been known to shy away from saying what's on his mind, but his most recent quip has sparked a bit of heat among fans.

During a recent interview at Fan Expo Dallas, Cage did the one thing sure to get fans heated nowadays: criticized the superhero movie-industrial-complex in Hollywood.

Cage called the Marvel Cinematic Universe a "glorified" WWE and mocked the actors who appear in "ridiculous outfits" in MCU films.

And fans are not happy—especially since Cage is not exactly a stranger to superhero content himself, including for Marvel.

Cage said:

“I do say this with love."

"When I see these 50-plus and otherwise intelligent and remarkably gifted thespians putting on these ridiculous outfits and getting ready for the fight—let’s face it, it’s all cutting to the fight—it’s hard for me not to be reminded that the MCU is becoming a well-funded and glorified WWE.”

Big talk for a guy who just played the titular character in the Marvel series Spider-Noir on Amazon Prime.

But then, Cage's whole attraction to the Spider-Noir series was its roots in classic cinema, not superheroes.

The series placed its main character in Depression-era New York and is filmed like a classic film noir with aesthetic nods to German Expressionism.

Cage told Variety at the time:

“I wanted to try to create an essence of some of my favorite old world actors because I wanted to embody that style—Bogart, Cagney, Edward G. Robinson—and designed my performance to fit within the black-and-white format."

Still, Cage has also twice played the Marvel superhero Ghost Rider, in Ghost Rider and Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance in 2007 and 2012, respectively—not exactly high art (and not at all well received, either).

But the elephant in the room is that he's not exactly wrong—and it's not just a Marvel problem, either. Superhero movies have been falling short of expectations for a while now, and many fans fully agreed with Cage.

And many cited Cage's own connections to the superhero and comic book movie genre as being precisely why Cage knows what he's talking about.

But others found Cage's comments a bit rich.

One person on Reddit summed up the debate perfectly. They wrote:

"I understand the criticisms of Cage here for taking sh*t movies and how it's rich coming from him."

"But also, like the guy had one of the most valued and coveted comic book collections in the world. If nothing else, I would at least trust his opinion on this as being genuine." —u/tequilasauer

Whether he has the "right" to say it or not, there's no arguing that Cage isn't touching down on something real.

Theatre operators and studios have reported that comic book movie receipts seem to be in real decline, with many analysts pointing to exactly what Cage describes: a genre that has slid into "mediocrity" as Hollywood has become "complacent" and made the same movie over and over again.

But then there's Cage's own Spider-Noir, a show that had massive critical acclaim and a devoted audience, but apparently not one big enough to justify its huge production costs. You just can't win, it seems.