Jamie Lee Curtis Apologizes for Marvel Remarks After Ryan Reynolds’ Response

Jamie Lee Curtis is backtracking fast after making a disparaging (even insulting) comment about the state of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Jamie Lee Curtis is a newly minted Academy Award winner (for the 2022 film Everything Everywhere All at Once), a horror movie icon for the long-running Halloween slasher franchise, and, perhaps most importantly in this context, a longtime star of Disney films. To lay some track here, The Walt Disney Company owns many properties other than Mickey Mouse, including Pixar Animation Studios, Lucasfilm, FX, and Marvel Studios.

At the recent San Diego Comic-Con 2024, where Marvel Studios happened to make a big splashy announcement about its revamped and ongoing Phase 5, Jamie Lee Curtis was also present to do promotion for the upcoming video game adaptation Borderlands. The film is produced by Lionsgate, directed by Eli Roth, and will co-star Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, Ariana Greenblatt, Edgar Ramírez, Bobby Lee, Florian Munteanu, and Gina Gershon.

Related: Acclaimed ‘Logan’ ‘The Wolverine’ Director Calls Marvel Multiverse “The Enemy”

Given that Hall H was just around the corner (and the fact that the MCU is the biggest film franchise in the world), it perhaps makes sense that MTV would ask Jamie Lee Curtis some Marvel questions (per Entertainment Weekly). In this case, she was asked to guess was “Phase” that the MCU was currently in. Her answer? “Bad.”

This was an obviously off-the-cuff comedic answer, but it appears something has quickly motivated Jamie Lee Curtis to make an apology to Marvel (per Variety). In a social media post, Curtis said, “My comments about Marvel were stupid and I will do better. I’ve reached out to Kevin Feige and will no longer play in that mud slinging sandbox of competition we call the internet nor will I engage in the toilet paper promotion or game play that is designed for clicks not content or conversation.”

Jamie Lee Curtis has issued an apology for calling the latest phase of the MCU bad.

“My comments about Marvel were stupid and I will do better. I've reached out to Kevin Feige and will no longer play in that mud slinging sandbox of competition we call the internet nor will I… pic.twitter.com/L9kQWGUdfd

— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) August 1, 2024

Although Jamie Lee Curtis (or her management) made sure to craft her apology as blaming “clicks” and the Internet for the words she chose to say, it appears she is eager not to get on the bad side of Marvel. It is possible that there may be some future role for Curtis in the MCU, but it is a matter of record that she has flung quite a few barbs at the franchise in the past.

During the promotion for Everything Everywhere All at Once, Jamie Lee Curtis repeatedly called out the Marvel movie Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022), calling it an inferior film. Some comments included:

“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?”

“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.

“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.”

Curtis would later tell People, “I have nothing against Marvel as an entity. I’ve seen a lot of Marvel movies. What I was talking about is that Everything Everywhere All at Once was a little movie that could … and we were able to tell a multiverse story that really touched people. What I was trying to talk about was that it doesn’t have to be a Marvel movie in order to be a spectacle and to really move you.”

She would also say that she was open to working with Marvel Studios in the future, continuing, “I work with a lot of people on a lot of different things, and if the role was interesting and if I could bring what I do to it, of course, I would. What am I going to do, say no?”

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Naturally, Curtis still had to throw some shade and position herself, famed nepo baby and award winner, as someone who would find it difficult to get a role. She said, “But, I would find it hard to imagine that Marvel’s going to figure out something to do with a 64-year-old woman. I’m afraid if I do a Marvel movie, they’re going to stick dots all over me and make me act by myself in a warehouse somewhere.”

Notably, the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress that Jamie Lee Curtis won for Everything Everywhere All at Once was also competed for by Angela Basset for her role in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022). Bassett was 64 years old at the time.

Who knows what made the actress walk back her comment so far, but maybe close personal friend Bob Iger made a return call to Jamie Lee Curtis this time around to ask her to stop trying to dunk on his biggest franchise all the time.

UPDATE:

Deadpool & Wolverine star and current Marvel Jesus Ryan Reynolds has responded to Jamie Lee Curtis’ apology:

Wait, is everyone expected to apologize for slamming Marvel post-Endgame? https://t.co/kRxPmILfXl

— Ryan Reynolds (@VancityReynolds) August 1, 2024

What do you think about Jamie Lee Curtis attacking Marvel?