Brian Cox is used to opening his mouth and speaking. And he also speaks without considering the many headlines he will make with his opinion. He is a guy who called the Bible “one of the worst books ever” that only “stupid” people buy, said Pierce Morgan that the “woke culture is really awful” and said Quentin Tarantino’s work is “style where there should be substance” but “if the phone rang, I would do it.” Turning his critical gaze from religious reverence for the baby Jesus to the maximum effort of the Marvel Jesus, Brian Cox also reflected on the state of cinema and the “very poor state” of film art. Cox, who played General Stryker in X2: Unity of the X-Men and was probably hurt because Ryan Reynolds didn’t invite him to Shawn Levy’s renovation of Fox’s X-Men Universe, believes that the world of superheroes is “beginning to implode.”
In his speech yesterday at the Edinburgh International Film Festival, The Hollywood ReporterCox finally voiced his thoughts on superhero movies, something we’ve long wanted him to do. “What’s happened is that television is doing what cinema used to do,” Cox said. And he’s right, too. There were too many superhero movies in theaters at one point, and now there are too many on Disney+. However, we think he means that in the spirit of 2011, when shows like mad Men made people say, “My goodness, these shows are better than movies.” Although we assume that Mr. Cox thinks so about Falcon and Winter Soldier, HawkeyeAnd Secret Invasionhe says, “cinema is in a very bad state.” Cox attributes this to “the grandiose element between Marvel, DC and all that,” which fortunately, he continues, “is actually starting to implode.”
We know. Deadpool and Wolverine grossed more than a billion dollars in three weeks, proving that superhero movies are still popular. But while these movies make “a lot of money,” they are “watered down,” and he feels it’s a subtle mockery of the actors in the films. “When you know Hugh Jackman can do a little bit more, Ryan Reynolds… they go that route and it’s a box office hit. They make a lot of money. You can’t underestimate that.”
Where does all this come from? Why has Brian Cox let his Stryker fans down? Probably because he doesn’t see enough money from X2. Cox says he “often” forgets that his character created Wolverine, yet royalties for producing the world’s most popular baby-based superhero have dried up. “When these movies come on, there’s always a little bit of me behind them, and they never pay me any money.” At least that’s an improvement on his comments about superhero movies last year, when he said Bryan Singer was “an extraordinary director – really, really gifted.” If Brian Cox has something to say, he’ll say it, and we’ll all listen and let the venom seep through.
