Some horror movie directors like Sam Raimi have taken the plunge recently and decided to lend their spooky talents to the MCU — with Raimi directing Phase 4 movie Doctor Strange 2. However, one spooky director has determined that he will never be behind the camera of a Marvel movie, and that’s Tim Burton.
Burton has directed a number of scary movies for kids over the years, with some classics including Edward Scissorhands, Beetlejuice, Sweeney Todd and even animated movies like Corpse Bride. Although he has dabbled in superhero movies before, directing the 1989 Batman movie starring Michael Keaton, any Marvel fans hoping to see some classic Burton tropes in the MCU may end up disappointed.
In an interview with Deadline, where he poked fun at Marvel’s recent extension into the multiverse, Burton said he would never do a Marvel movie. “I can only deal with one universe, I can’t deal with a multi-universe,” he explained.
Burton made the revelation as part of a discussion on modern moviemaking, where he also noted, “it’s gotten to be very homogenized, very consolidated. There’s less room for different types of things.”
In the past, Burton has directed multiple Disney movies, including musical The Nightmare Before Christmas and the live-action versions of Alice in Wonderland and Dumbo. But he revealed that his experience directing Dumbo has led to him cutting ties with the House of Mouse for good.
“My history is that I started out there [at Disney]. I was hired and fired like several times throughout my career there,” he explained. “The thing about Dumbo, is that’s why I think my days with Disney are done, I realized that I was Dumbo, that I was working in this horrible big circus and I needed to escape. That movie is quite autobiographical at a certain level.”
If you want to indulge in more Burton-like madness, check out our guide to the best Tim Burton movies.