Jamie Lee Curtis was one of several attendees at this year's Comic-Con who took part in a quick-fire question game with MTV. When the interviewer asked what stage the Marvel Cinematic Universe was in right now, Curtis replied, “Bad.” (via EW). The answer had her and the “Borderlands” cast in attendance laughing together.
“Death,” was the answer from “Speak No Evil” star Mackenzie Davis, though she admitted she didn’t understand what a “phase” in the Marvel universe meant after the answer. Her co-star James McAvoy, who has never been in the MCU but has played Charles Xavier in several “X-Men” films, replied, “Hey, Marvel, I just killed you.”
While Curtis was being sassy, she wasn’t necessarily wrong. While Marvel currently dominates the box office charts with the record-breaking success of “Deadpool & Wolverine,” which is all but certain to cross the $1 billion mark at the global box office next month, the film’s success follows the worst year in the studio’s history. Marvel suffered two box office flops in 2023, with “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” and “The Marvels,” with the latter title becoming the lowest-grossing Marvel movie in history.
Throughout 2022, Curtis has been in a playful war with Marvel after her multiverse drama Everything Everywhere All at Once hit theaters at the same time as Marvel's Doctor Strange: The Adventures of Marvel. News of the film spread on social media at the time, declaring her film the superior multiverse project.
“I have nothing against Marvel as an entity. I’ve watched a lot of Marvel movies,” Curtis later explained to People magazine when asked about the feigned animosity. “What I was talking about was that ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ was a little movie that could… and [we] “We were able to tell a multiverse story that really impacted people. What I was trying to talk about is that it doesn't have to be a Marvel movie to be amazing and really impact you.”
True, Curtis admitted she might have wanted to spark a “little friendly competition” between the two multiverse films. Would the actress join the MCU? She wouldn’t be opposed to it, though she said it’s doubtful she’d be approached.
“Honestly, I can’t imagine them ever coming because I’ve been making some dust,” Curtis said. “But I’m a collaborative artist. I work with a lot of people on a lot of different things, and if the role is interesting and if I can bring what I do, of course I’ll do it. [work with Marvel]What would I do, would I say no? Of course!
“But I have a hard time imagining Marvel coming up with something involving a 64-year-old woman,” she added. “I’m afraid that if I do a Marvel movie, they’re going to put dots on my body and have me act alone in a warehouse somewhere.”
Curtis' next film is “Borderlands,” which hits theaters August 9.
