Meryl Streep has never been one to mince words, and at a recent event promoting The Devil Wears Prada 2, she aimed her famously sharp tongue at the biggest target in Hollywood: Marvel.
"We tend to Marvel-ize the movies now," Streep said, "and it's so boring."
Ouch. But also: is she wrong?
Look, I get it. Marvel has made some genuinely great films. Guardians of the Galaxy has real heart. Black Panther was culturally significant. Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark is iconic casting. But Streep isn't talking about individual films - she's talking about what happens when one studio's formula becomes the entire industry's playbook.
The "Marvel-ization" she's critiquing isn't just about superhero movies. It's about the homogenization of blockbuster storytelling: the three-act structure broken into identical beats, the mandatory quips undercutting emotional moments, the third-act CGI sky beam, the post-credits scenes that promise the next thing instead of letting the current thing breathe.
It's about how every studio now wants a "cinematic universe" instead of, you know, good movies. Warner Bros. tried it with DC and face-planted. Universal tried it with the Dark Universe and gave up after The Mummy flopped. Sony is still trying with Spider-Man villains, and it's genuinely painful to watch.
The numbers support Streep's critique. In 2000, eight of the top ten domestic box office grossers were original films or standalone sequels. In 2024, nine of the top ten were franchise films, most with interconnected universes. Mid-budget films - the kind Streep has built her career on - have been almost entirely exiled to streaming.
This isn't some cranky actress yelling at clouds. Streep has more Oscar nominations than most actors have credits. She's earned the right to critique what Hollywood has become. And she's not alone - Martin Scorsese called Marvel films "not cinema," Francis Ford Coppola called them "despicable." These aren't outsiders throwing stones; they're the architects of modern filmmaking watching their industry chase algorithms instead of art.
The irony? Streep herself appeared in the MCU - sort of. She had a supporting role in Don't Look Up, which was basically a Marvel-style ensemble cast tackling climate change. Netflix spent $100 million on it. It looked expensive and felt empty. Maybe that's what she's talking about.
Here's what Marvel defenders will say: these films make billions of dollars, they employ thousands of people, they bring joy to millions of fans. All true! But that doesn't make them interesting cinema, and it doesn't mean the industry should organize itself entirely around their success.
The real question is whether anyone will listen. Studios are terrified of originality right now. In an era of $200 million budgets, recognizable IP feels safer than new ideas. But "safer" has given us Morbius, The Flash, and whatever Madame Web was supposed to be.
Streep will be fine regardless. She's Meryl Streep. But the next generation of actors hoping to build careers on character-driven dramas and weird little indie films? They're the ones who'll suffer in a Marvel-ized landscape.
In Hollywood, nobody knows anything - except Meryl Streep, who knows boring when she sees it.
