Meryl Streep Calls Out the ‘Marvel-ization’ of Cinema and Says It’s Making Movies Boring
Meryl Streep is never one to hold back when it comes to the state of Hollywood, and her latest comments are sending ripples through the industry. During the press tour for ‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’, the legendary actress delivered a pointed critique of how superhero storytelling has reshaped the way films approach character and moral complexity.
Speaking on the Hits Radio Breakfast Show alongside co-stars Anne Hathaway and Emily Blunt, Streep suggested that modern cinema has developed a troubling over-reliance on simple, binary depictions of good and evil. “I think we tend to Marvel-ize the movies now. We got the villains and we got the good guys, and it’s so boring,” she said, before making a case for the kind of moral ambiguity she finds genuinely compelling. She continued by arguing that the most interesting characters live in the grey areas of human nature, noting that real life features heroes who are flawed and villains who are surprisingly human and have their own strengths, adding that she appreciates how much “messier” her new film is by comparison.
The timing of the remarks is hard to ignore. ‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’ reunites Streep with Hathaway, Blunt, and Stanley Tucci, with original director David Frankel and screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna also returning, centering on Miranda Priestly as she navigates a rapidly evolving media landscape nearly two decades after the events of the original film. Critics have noted that the sequel offers a more emotionally open version of Miranda than audiences saw in 2006, leaning into exactly the kind of layered, human-feeling characterization Streep was championing in her remarks.
The original ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ became a cultural phenomenon, grossing over $326 million globally, and its sequel has arrived with comparable commercial momentum. The film opened in theaters on May 1, with domestic projections pointing to an opening weekend of $75 to $80 million, with some estimates going as high as $100 million, and international projections sitting at around $100 million across 35 countries.
Adding a touch of irony to the moment, ‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’ actually landed in theaters on May 1, which was originally the release date held by Marvel’s ‘Avengers: Doomsday’. That scheduling coincidence gives Streep’s comments an unintentional extra edge, with the fashion world quite literally stepping into the slot that superheroes left behind.
Streep has also been candid during the press run about her initial reluctance to return to the franchise, revealing in a separate interview that she turned down the original offer before successfully renegotiating to double her asking price, reflecting on how long it took her to recognize her own leverage in the situation. That kind of frank self-awareness, paired with her Marvel commentary, paints a picture of an actress extremely comfortable speaking her mind at this stage of her career.
Streep’s remarks echo sentiments that have been growing in critical circles for years, as audiences and filmmakers wrestle with whether the superhero genre’s dominance has quietly narrowed the kinds of stories getting greenlit and the depth of the characters within them.
Her argument is not that Marvel films are worthless but that their moral framework, defined by clean heroism and cartoonish villainy, has seeped into the broader culture of mainstream filmmaking. With ‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’ drawing strong reviews precisely for its character complexity, Streep is making her case from a position of considerable authority.
