Nicolas Cage praises early Marvel, slams its current direction

Nicolas Cage, though, was never part of the MCU. But he played not one but two Marvel characters, Ghost Rider and now Spider-Man.

However, he has a specific criticism of the franchise, particularly how they're handling the universe for a while.

At first, he raved about early Marvel rollout, stating, “It started out, in my view, terrific. Some of the early stories were marvelous."

"The way that they wove all the threads together and told the different character stories and backstories.”

However, in recent films, Cage said the MCU lagged. “Lately — I do say this with love."

He continued, “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.”

Moving away from criticism, Cage brought up his now-cancelled show Spider-Nori during his talk at Fan Expo Dallas.

“One of the things I liked about Spider-Noir was it wasn’t cutting to the fight,” he said, adding, “It was a detective story. There was a mystery there.”

That said, the actor added, “I would like to see [the MCU] get back to telling the stories and not just cutting to the wrestling match.”

Cage's criticism echoed director Martin Scorsese's earlier criticism of Marvel, when he compared the comic book franchise to a theme park.