Pedro Almodóvar Thinks Superhero Movies Aren’t Horny Enough

According to queer auteur Pedro Almodovar, Marvel movies aren't sexy enough. Has he never seen Captain America: The Winter Soldier or checked the Steve Rogers/Bucky Barnes tab on Ao3? Because while the Avengers might be a bit prude onscreen, they're having plenty of gay sex in fanfiction.

Almodovar, whose new (very gay) film Pain and Glory is getting rave reviews -- especially for Antonio Banderas' turn playing a gay director -- told Vulture that he thinks Americans aren't very good at capturing sexuality onscreen.

"Here, perhaps, there is a kind of self-censorship that doesn't allow the writers to write other kinds of stories," he explained. "There are many, many movies about superheroes. And sexuality doesn't exist for superheroes. They are neutered. There is an unidentified gender, the adventure is what's important. You can find, among independent movies, more of this sexuality. The human being has such sexuality!

"I get the feeling that in Europe, in Spain, that I have much more freedom than if I worked here," Almodovar added.

But would the director make his own sexy superhero film if given the chance? That question got a big, fat no. "I don't think so. It's too big for me," he explained. "I like to see what I'm doing, to direct movies the same day. You have to wait too long to see the results [with big movies]. I like being able to impose my opinion as a director. I've made 21 movies. I'm used to doing it the way I like, not fitting with the Hollywood system."

Big-budget superhero movies may be relatively sexless, but shows like HBO's Watchmen and Amazon's The Boys are great examples of how TV provides opportunities for caped crusaders to be fully-realized sexual beings... after all, those suits are very tight. And with Marvel finally showcasing queer characters inThe Eternals and Thor: Love and Thunder, maybe we'll finally get the horny superhero representation we deserve.

RELATED | Which Avengers are Having the Most Gay Sex, According to Fanfiction