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As one might expect, Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi disagrees with Martin Scorsese's previous comments on the quality of Marvel movies. On the press tour for Jojo Rabbit, which happens to be due out this weekend, Waititi broke his silence on the topic in an interview with the Associated Press. Poking fun at the situation in the typical lighthearted Waititi fashion, the filmmaker says "of course" Marvel movies are cinema.

"Well, it's too late to change it to the Marvel ...Atic Universe," Waititi said of removing "cinema" from the name. "Of course it's cinema! It's at the movies. It's at cinemas near you. Marvel Cinema--tic Universe...scene!"

"Of course it's cinema! It's at the movies." Director Taika Waititi (@TaikaWaititi) of "Thor: Ragnarok" and "Jojo Rabbit" responds to Martin Scorsese's criticism of Marvel movies as "not cinema." pic.twitter.com/nawpRK6FTl — AP Entertainment (@APEntertainment) October 15, 2019

After his initial comments, where he mentioned he thought Marvel movies carried no emotion, Scorsese recently double-downed on the comments, saying going to Marvel movies is no different than going to a theme park.

"The value of a film that’s like a theme park film, for example, the Marvel type pictures where the theaters become amusement parks, that’s a different experience,” he said. “As I was saying earlier, it's not cinema, it’s something else. Whether you go for that or not, it is something else and we shouldn’t be invaded by it. And so that’s a big issue, and we need the theater owners to step up for that to allow theaters to show films that are narrative films.”

In his earlier comments, Scorsese mentioned he hadn't seen Marvel movies, before slamming the movies for their content.

"I don’t see them. I tried, you know? But that’s not cinema,” he said. “Honestly, the closest I can think of them, as well made as they are, with actors doing the best they can under the circumstances, is theme parks. It isn’t the cinema of human beings trying to convey emotional, psychological experiences to another human being.”

Upcoming Marvel Studios projects include Black Widow on May 1, 2020, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier in Fall 2020, The Eternals on November 6, 2020, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings on February 12, 2021, WandaVision in Spring 2021, Loki in Spring 2021, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness on May 7, 2021, Spider-Man 3 on July 16, 2021, What If…? in Summer 2021, Hawkeye in Fall 2021, and Thor: Love and Thunder on November 5, 2021, and Black Panther 2 on May 6, 2022. Marvel Studios Disney+ series without release dates include Ms. Marvel, Moon Knight, and She-Hulk.