James Cameron says Avatar's VFX is better than Marvel: "It's not even close"

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"Come on. Give me a break"

Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War and Ronal in Avatar: The Way of Water
(Image credit: Marvel Studios/20th Century Studios)

James Cameron has, historically, not had many kind words to say about superhero movies. However, in a recent interview, he admitted that the increased output of Marvel and other comic book movies since the release of the first Avatar movie in 2009 has helped raise the bar with VFX – but Thanos still doesn't measure up to the Na'vi.

"Obviously the big comic book films have been driving the sheer volume of the industry… the rising tide of technique raises everybody together," Cameron told ComicBook.com (via Variety). "It gives you higher quality artists, more tools and plug-ins and code [to use]. You’ve got more talented people writing code out there."

Thanos, the big bad of Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame played by Josh Brolin, and the Na'vi, the race of blue-skinned aliens in Avatar who live on the planet of Pandora, are both created using motion capture technology. Cameron thinks his creations are superior, though.

He continued: "Our team at WETA Digital is constantly having new hires, and it’s coming out of that pool. So it improves everything. That said, WETA Effects, as it’s called now, is the best. Right? Industrial Light & Magic does great work, but when it comes to the kind of emotive facial stuff that we’re doing… Thanos? Come on. Give me a break. You saw [Avatar: The Way of Water]. It’s not even close. It’s what WETA did."

Emily Garbutt
Emily Garbutt
Entertainment Writer

I’m an Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, covering everything film and TV-related. I help bring you all the latest news, features, and reviews, as well as helming our Big Screen Spotlight column. I’ve previously written for publications like HuffPost and i-D after getting my NCTJ Diploma in Multimedia Journalism.