Rachel Martin

It only could have happened in America.

And I'm not just talking about the superhero movies alone.

I'm talking about the comic books as well and the kind of Manichaean black and white look at good and evil.

Yeah, the morality.

The morality, the optimism that good can triumph over evil coming out of either the First Great War or the Second World War.

Yeah.

could only have occurred in America, a relatively young country whose borders have never really shifted other than the great crime that was westward expansion.

But then the superhero movie, as an outgrowth of that,

If only because only American studios can afford to make those sorts of movies.

Right.

And then they're projected out into the world to where, you know, you can be at the most remote village in the Amazon and you'll encounter a kid with a Hulk t-shirt.

Oh, yeah.

The cultural power – the exportation of American culture through the superhero movie is –

Yeah, that's the ultimate soft power, right?

So all of that is why it's America.

Right.

And I'm wondering as a person – you've done a turn in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as an actor.

I mean, are these – is it interesting to you, the work itself, in a creative way?

Or is it just –

You're clearly interested intellectually in it, right, from a remove.