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Jamie Lee Curtis apologizes for Marvel-bashing comments

Oscar winner had joked that Marvel is currently in its ‘bad’ phase

Kevin E G Perry
Los Angeles
Thursday 01 August 2024 17:40 BST
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Jamie Lee Curtis says bands should perform a 'matinee' for older fans

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Jamie Lee Curtis has apologized to Marvel after her dismissive joke about the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The 65-year-old Oscar-winner was being interviewed at San Diego Comic-Con when she was asked what phase the MCU is currently in. She replied: “Bad.”

After her withering response went viral, Curtis took to Instagram to issue an apology.

“If I’m a leader, then a leader shouldn’t talk s*** about other collaborative art form creators,” she wrote. “My comments about Marvel were stupid and I will do better.”

She went on to say that she had also apologized to Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige directly.

“I’ve reached out to Kevin Feige and will no longer play in that mud slinging sandbox of competition nor will I engage in the toilet paper promotion or game play that is designed for clicks not content,” she added.

Jamie Lee Curtis attends the IMDboat at San Diego Comic-Con 2024
Jamie Lee Curtis attends the IMDboat at San Diego Comic-Con 2024 (Mat Hayward/Getty Images for IMDb)

Curtis was at Comic-Con to promote her appearance in the upcoming action-adventure Borderlands.

She wasn’t the only star unable to identify the current status of the MCU.

Rings of Power actor Ema Horvath guessed: “A transitional phase.”

While Speak No Evil star Mackenzie Davis responded: “Death.”

“Hey Marvel, she just terminated you,” joked her co-star James McAvoy.

Both McAvoy and Dexter: Original Sin’s Christian Slater were able to correctly answer that Marvel is currently in phase 5. Next year’s The Fantastic Four: First Steps is set to mark the start of Phase 6.

Curtis has some history with Marvel. In 2022, she made a series of social media posts comparing her film Everything Everywhere All At Once to Marvel’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Both films deal with the concept of the multiverse.

In one post, Curtis accused Doctor Strange of mimicking artwork, writing: “Is it JUST me? Does it seem STRANGE that our tiny movie that could and did and continues to do ##1movieinamerica and is TRULY MARVELOUS, out marvels any Marvel movie they put out there @everythingeverywheremovie has a Marvel movie coming out with a copycat poster? Is this one of those Internet feuds?”

In another, she wrote of Everything Everywhere All At Once: “MARVELOUS! It has a deep BEATING heart and BRILLIANT visual treats, EXTRAORDINARY performances and FANTASTIC BEASTLY FIGHT SCENES...... AND it COST LESS than the ENTIRE craft service budget on Doctor Strange and/or any other Marvel movie.

She continued: “COMPETITIVE? F*** YES. I wasn’t head cheerleader in high school for nothing. And P.S. our movie has a dynamite dildo fight scene as well as a very erotic hotdog hand mating dance and rocks.”

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Curtis went on to win the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Everything Everywhere All At Once, by directing duo Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert.

In a five-star review for The Independent, film critic Clarisse Loughrey wrote that the film presents “an ingenious, nuanced multiverse that leaves Marvel in the dust.”

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