After Martin Scorsese’s comments about how Marvel movies are not cinema — and then his entire op-ed in The New York Times explaining his position — it was only a matter of time before a journalist asked Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige about Scorsese’s strongly held belief that his company and its movies are not cinema — and in some ways are contributing to the death of cinema overall. That moment happened today, when The Hollywood Reporter spoke with Feige for a podcast and did indeed as him to respond to Feige’s words.

As you would expect, Kevin Feige does not agree that Marvel’s movies are not cinema. As he put it:

I think that's not true. I think it's unfortunate ... I think myself and everyone who works on these movies loves cinema, loves movies, loves going to the movies, loves to watch a communal experience in a movie theater full of people.

In response to Scorsese’s contention in his Times essay that Marvel’s movies take absolutely no risks, Feige responded  “We did Civil War. We had our two most popular characters get into a very serious theological and physical altercation," and added that the studio killed half their characters in Avengers: Infinity War. (The company did bring almost all of them back in Avengers: Endgame one year later.)

So it looks like this conversation must continue, possibly forever. We will be fighting the Marvel/Scorsese Wars until the end of the movie business. Which, if you believe Scorsese, might not be that long. Listen to Feige’s entire comments about this matter at THR.com.

Note: As Amazon Associates, we earn on qualifying purchases.

Gallery — Every Project in Marvel’s Phase Four Lineup:

More From ScreenCrush