Cameron: Thanos' special effects are far worse than Avatar 2

James Cameron, the "God of Cards", told ComicBook.com in a recent video interview that when it comes to motion capture and visual effects to build emotional faces, Marvel villain Thanos is no match for the Na'vi, not even close!

Both the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Cameron's Avatar series use a lot of motion capture technology, such as Josh Brolin's role as Thanos, and Avatar turned Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana into blue-skinned aliens.

ComicBook.com reporter Brandon Davis asked Cameron if the visual effects breakthroughs of Marvel movies over the past decade or so have prompted him to raise the bar, and Cameron replied: "Obviously, superheroes drive the entire industry forward... The rise of technology has allowed filmmakers to pay more attention to special effects. It provides higher-quality art, more tools, plug-ins and code for post-production, and now there are more talented people writing code."

Ka Shen continued: "Our Weta Digital team has been recruiting new employees. The later stage of "Avatar 2" came from this team, which means that Weta's effects should be the best. Right? Industrial Light and Magic did a good job (for Marvel), but when it comes to the emotional facial expressions we made... Thanos? Come on, look at "Avatar 2", they are still far behind. Let's see how Weta does it!"

Although Cameron said at the beginning of the interview: "I just want to say in advance that I will not belittle the Marvel or DC universe." But Cameron couldn't control himself. In an interview with The New York Times last October, the director said that he wanted to bring risks and character maturity to "Avatar: The Way of Water" that the Marvel Cinematic Universe lacked.

“Fifteen years later, Zoe and Sam are playing the roles of parents,” Cameron said. “In the first movie, Sam’s character jumps out of his plane and changes the course of history because of this crazy, almost suicidal leap of faith. Zoe’s character jumps off a branch thinking there will be some nice big leaves underneath to cushion her fall.

“When you’re a parent, you’re not as impulsive. So for me, as a parent of five kids, I say, ‘What happens when these characters mature and realize they have responsibilities beyond just survival?’”

"When I look at these big, spectacular movies - I look at you, Marvel and DC - no matter how old these characters are, they act like they're college students. They have boyfriends and girlfriends, but they don't. They never hold back because of their kids. What really sustains us and gives us strength is love and purpose and that kind of thing. These (Marvel) characters haven't experienced that, and I don't think that's the way to make a movie."