The “Clerks” director, who famously was offered to head up Warner Bros’ DC department in 1996, revealed that he will never work for Marvel or the “Star Wars” franchise due to the “rabid” fans of both IPs. “It’s a fool’s errand — you’re going to piss somebody off,” Smith told The Guardian. “Fandom is rabid and tribal. When I worked on ‘Masters of the Universe,’ I took a lot of heat from people who felt like I had ruined their childhood. Going near a Marvel or a Star Wars would make me insanely reticent.” Smith continued, “They’ve got a billion people to make those movies, but nobody’s making Kevin Smith movies, so I might as well make them.” The “Chasing Amy” helmer led the 2021 Netflix animated series “Masters of the Universe: Revelation,” which fans found to be too “woke,” according to Smith. The director killed off main characters He-Man and Skeletor in the first episode so that the series could focus on Teela as the lead.
“I know there’s some people that are like, ‘Hey, man, this show’s woke,’” Smith told Variety at the time. “I’m like, all right, great, then so was the original cartoon we’re fucking sequel-izing. Go watch it again. There are girls in every episode. Deal with it.” Smith’s history with DC has also been a back-and-forth, with the infamously scrapped “Superman Lives” film penned by Smith casting Nicolas Cage as the superhero only to later fall apart. Smith, who named his daughter after the “Batman the Animated Series” character Harley Quinn, also opted to write and direct “Dogma” instead of taking over the DC franchise at Warner Bros. Most recently, Smith’s “Strange Adventures” anthology series was given the axe at HBO Max. Smith also spoke out about the cancellation of the “Batgirl” movie. “It’s an incredibly bad look to cancel the Latina ‘Batgirl’ movie,” Smith said. “I don’t give a shit if the movie was absolute fucking dog shit – I guarantee you that it wasn’t.” And the tribalism of “Star Wars” fans that Smith referenced has resulted in racist backlash to casting in Disney+ series “Obi-Wan Kenobi,” as well as the Skywalker Saga film trilogy. Actor Simon Pegg deemed “Star Wars” fans the most “toxic” among franchises earlier this year. Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.
