Quentin Tarantino is not a big fan of modern superhero films. The acclaimed director recently told the Los Angeles times he’s never helmed one because he’s “not a hired hand” and while “the writing’s not quite on the wall yet”, he believes the fascination with superhero films will eventually fade similar to when audiences tired of big-budget musical productions in the 1960s. Films like 1961’s West Side Story and 1964’s A Hard Day’s Night thrilled audiences for the better part of a decade before interest waned and filmmakers were forced to look elsewhere. Tarantino stated that he and other modern filmmakers “can’t wait for the day they can say that about superhero movies.”
Of course, rather than making reporters ask Tarantino fewer questions about the potential for him to step behind the camera for a superhero flick, his comments inspired more…and somewhat surprisingly, Tarantino had an answer at the ready. In an interview with Variety, Tarantino revealed that were he to have his choice of Marvel IPs to bring to the big screen, it would be a classic book that inspired his 2009 film Inglorious Basterds.
In a 2009 interview with MTV, Tarantino shared that the 1963 Stan Lee and Jack Kirby series Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandoes was an inspiration for the main crew of Inglorious Basterds.
“[The Basterds] are a kind of comic book. A big influence on the Basterds was Marvel Comics’ ‘Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos.’ That was definitely an influence on that flick.
Quentin Tarantino
Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandoes ran for nearly 20 years and saw 167 issues published about the adventures of Nick Fury and his ragtag team that included Dum Dum Dugan, Gabe Jones, Izzy Cohen, Jim Morita and more. A version of the team, lead by Dugan and featuring many of those listed, was featured in 2011’s Captain America: The First Avenger. While fans probably shouldn’t hold their breath, the though of Tarantino revisiting that team and some of their unseen adventures in World War II is titilating.
Sources: Los Angeles Time, Variety, MTV
