James Cameron revealed that he agrees with the ways of Thanos, one of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's biggest villains.
Cameron just put out Avatar: The Way of Water, a movie that's already earned him $95 million personally and reached over $2.2 billion at the worldwide box office.
While the filmmaker promoted his recent project, he was inevitably asked about Marvel and its many popular movies.
However, the conversation took an unexpected turn when Cameron voiced agreement with Thanos' drastic beliefs. For those that don't remember, Josh Brolin's villain thought the best course of action for existence was to wipe out half of the universe's population.
Cameron Agrees With Thanos the Mad Titan
In an interview with Time, Avatar: The Way of Water director James Cameron spoke about the CGI work on his latest film, while also noting an interesting personal connection to Josh Brolin's Thanos.
At one point in his conversation, Cameron shared that Thanos "had a pretty viable answer" to his problem—one that parallels the filmmaker's environmental activism:
“I can relate to Thanos... I thought he had a pretty viable answer. The problem is nobody is going to put up their hand to volunteer to be the half that has to go.”
In a previous interview with Variety, Cameron gave credit to Marvel Studios and other big VFX films, explaining that "the rising tide of technique raises everybody together:"
“Obviously the big comic book films have been driving the sheer volume of the industry… the rising tide of technique raises everybody together. It gives you higher quality artists, more tools and plug-ins and code [to use]. You’ve got more talented people writing code out there.”
Bringing Thanos back into the discussion, the director brushed off comparisons with his CGI and their work on Avatar, noting that Brolin's villain "[isn't] even close:"
“Our team at WETA Digital is constantly having new hires, and it’s coming out of that pool... “So it improves everything. That said, WETA Effects, as it’s called now, is the best. Right? Industrial Light & Magic does great work, but when it comes to the kind of emotive facial stuff that we’re doing… Thanos? Come on. Give me a break. You saw [‘Avatar: The Way of Water’]. It’s not even close. It’s what WETA did.”
Supporting Thanos' Depopulation Strategy
Usually, the 'Thanos was right' movement is a joke, but it seems Cameron has found some validity in it.
His sentiments aren't too surprising, given his support of environmental and climate activism. After all, those are all pillars of his Avatar franchise as a whole.
Though, genocide on a galactic level doesn't usually come up.
As for his thoughts on the MCU's VFX, it's no surprise he feels his team did a better job—his movie got over ten years, while most Marvel projects get less than two.
James Cameron does seem to be staying with the Avatar franchise, so he won't have to worry too much about Marvel or their film's VFX.
The upcoming third Avatar will allow the filmmaker to flex his technical prowess in a whole new way, with a new fire tribe of Na'Vi coming into play. The new group will be led by Oona Chaplin, who is most known for her work on Game of Thrones as Talisa Stark.
Sadly, the threequel won't be out until December 20, 2024. In the meantime, fans can catch another screening of Avatar: The Way of Water which is now playing in theaters.
