Ben Mendelsohn Has Some Delightful, Vulgar Thoughts on Why Spider-Man Was Never Leaving the MCU

In Captain Marvel, acclaimed Aussie actor Ben Mendelsohn stole the show as Talos, an eccentric Skrull who moves from villain to sympathetic ally. He then reprised the role in an uncredited Spider-Man: Far From Home cameo. As you might remember, that film was released amidst some back-and-forth controversy about Spidey leaving the MCU and living exclusively at Sony, before he returned to Marvel thanks in part to star Tom Holland. Now, Mendelsohn has shared his thoughts on the matter to Metro. And his thoughts are… glorious.

“It would have been a disaster,” Mendelsohn stated bluntly. When asked why, he delivered this screed which I would like to replace the text of the United States Constitution:

S*** man. You can’t lose Spider-Man from the Marvel universe. He’s one of their absolute motherf***ing pornstars. Boy, I could name 30 that you could quite comfortably lose before you start thinking about losing Spider-Man. In fact, I cannot think of a single character who’s more important to Marvel than Spider-Man. You’ve got Hulk, you’ve got Thor…none of them are as important as Spider-Man. None of them.

Image via Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Now I’ve heard a lot of takes about Spider-Man. Many of them good, some of them bad. But I’ve never heard a take quite like “he’s one of their absolute motherf***ing pornstars.” It is a perfectly bonkers way to describe the importance of something, one I intend on using in my daily life (Example: “Gregory, why do you own a stuffed Waluigi doll” “Because it’s one of my absolute motherf***ing pornstars”). It’s also very refreshing to hear Mendelsohn discredit the rest of his MCU colleagues. Mark Ruffalo and Chris Hemsworth do a great job of playing Hulk and Thor, but Mendelsohn is onto something with his cultural read of superhero relevance. Spider-Man is for everybody, you know?

Mendelsohn didn’t just enthusiastically swear about this one young man. He also took the time to shout out Timothee Chalamet, his co-star on Netflix’s The King:

He’s not copying anyone else, he’s a better movie star than we deserve. We don’t actually deserve, I think, such a beautiful f***ing movie star, such a beautiful male movie star, that you can see and feel, you experience him as he’s doing it… You want to be him but you can’t be him. You want to be somewhere in his proximity. He’s a very magnetic person. Timmy was very reverential without being a d**k about any of it. He’s doing f***ing well and long may he reign. It’s a delight to see people get that movie star buzz around him… I have never heard audiences clamour and scream for anyone in my working life the way they clamour and scream for Timmy. And I love that.

We love that too, Benny. We love that too.

Spider-Man: Far From Home is available on digital and blu-ray now, and The King is streaming on Netflix. Fore more on Mendelsohn, here’s the trailer for The Outsider, his upcoming Stephen King adaptation for HBO.