SCOTTISH comic book writer Mark Millar has said he is “disturbed” by the fan response to two cinema legends’ comments on Marvel movies.

Martin Scorsese and Francis Coppola, two filmmakers whose combined careers have spanned more than 100 years, branded mainstream comic book films “not cinema” and “despicable” earlier this month. The comments sparked major backlash from fans of the genre.

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Now Millar, who has worked as a consultant/script writer for Marvel and is now a senior executive at Netflix, has criticised social media calls for the pair to be “cancelled” over their comments.

“I think the question here is why people would ever assume Scorsese and Coppola would be into Marvel movies,” the Coatbridge-born writer said. “These guys were inspired by Truffaut, Kazan, Godard and Fassbinder and got into the business to be auteurs, two of the greatest grown-up American directors of all time. Even when they were young guys they weren’t making ET or Indiana Jones.”

He went on to say “mass market family cinema” had never been Scorsese or Coppola’s “thing”.

“I’m disturbed to see fans slamming them this week and, in the words of the greatest contemporary idiots, calling for them to be ‘cancelled’. Avengers Endgame made $2.7 billion. Marvel has enough fans. Let’s these two geniuses be themselves and love them for it, as we always do.”

But the Kingsman writer addressed the “irony” of Todd Phillip’s Joker film, which tracks the DC villain’s backstory, being heavily influenced by Scorsese’s Taxi Driver and the King of Comedy. Phillips even featured Robert DeNiro, a reoccurring figure in Scorsese’s work, in a key role.

“That film cost 70 million and is well on track to making a billion, the most profitable movie perhaps in history,” he said. “So Scorsese might not love superhero movies, but they certainly seem to love him.”

The initial row over the validity of comic book films was sparked when 77-year-old Scorsese was asked if he had watched them during an interview with Empire.

“I tried, you know?” the director replied, before telling the interviewer “that’s not cinema”.

He went on: “Honestly, the closest I can think of them, as well made as they are, with actors doing the best they can under the circumstances, is theme parks.

“It isn’t the cinema of human beings trying to convey emotional, psychological experiences to another human being.”

After seeing the backlash aimed at Scorsese, Apocolypse Now director Coppola, 80, said: “Martin was being kind when he said it wasn’t cinema. He didn’t say it was despicable, which is what I say.”