Alien: Covenant director Ridley Scott's view on superhero films is surprisingly candid

'I can't believe in the thin, gossamer tight-rope of the non-reality of the situation of the superhero'

(Getty Images for DGA)

If you've ever wondered what a Ridley Scott superhero film would look like, cast the thought from your mind: the filmmaker has been asked on multiple occasions and, time and again, has turned down the opportunity.

Instead, he told press during promotion for upcoming BBC series Taboo, he would rather keep making smart films.

"Superhero movies are not my kind of thing - that's why I've never really done one," he said, continuing: "[I've been asked] several times, but I can't believe in the thin, gossamer tight-rope of the non-reality of the situation of the superhero."

He believes that, at a stretch, his 1982 sci-fi classic Blade Runner "...is a comic strip when you think about it; it's a dark story told in an unreal world. You could almost put Batman or Superman in that world, that atmosphere," he said, "except I'd have a f*cking good story, as opposed to no story."

His wider views on cinema were just as damning; he told assembled press, including Digital Spy, how he believes "cinema mainly is pretty bad."

These words, while they certainly apply to plenty of superhero films, seem unfair when considering films such as Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy and recent Marvel efforts Guardians of the Galaxy and Ant-Man.

The last film Scott made was 2015\s The Martian starring Matt Damon, Mackenzie Foy and Jessica Chastain. He's currently hard at work on Prometheus sequel Alien: Covenant which early word suggests is on a par with his original 1979 film horror.