The Marvel movies feature compelling performances by renowned actors

The argument

What makes great cinema? Undoubtedly, one factor of a great movie is the actors that appear in it. Great performances can elevate the immersion of the film and convey emotions and ideals quite effectively; conversely, bad or even mediocre performances can consign a film to irrelevance. The argument therefore establishes its criterion before applying it, and chooses one both sides of the question can accept, since acting is not a genre-specific standard and a film cannot be excluded from the category of cinema on the ground that acting quality is irrelevant to it. The Marvel movies contain some of the most compelling acting performances in modern media. Robert Downey Jr. played Iron Man extremely well, to the point where people have begun to conflate their identities, an unusual outcome that proponents take as evidence of the performance's completeness rather than of the actor's fame. He portrays narcissistic playboy and traumatized hero with equal skill, which is to say the role demanded range and received it. Chris Hemsworth's portrayal of Thor is similarly praiseworthy, displaying amazing range between the uptight prince, comedic protagonist, and tragic hero. These and other actors have put on their A-game in portraying their characters. What's most impressive is that they not only maintain this level for one project, but also over twenty movies spanning more than a decade, and it is the duration that carries the argument, because a single strong performance can be an accident of casting or direction while a sustained one across many films cannot. This consistent high-quality acting is one of the biggest reasons for Marvel's success. It's also, on this view, one of the biggest indicators that these movies count as cinema.

Premises

Counter-arguments

The actor performances in the Marvel movies were surely good. But to be remembered in the annals of cinema history, one can't just be good - one has to be amazing. It's telling that for all the praise Hemsworth and Downey have received, neither of them, nor anyone in the MCU, has been nominated for an Oscar for those movies. The MCU aren't exactly character dramas; they're focused on action. There's not much room to show one's acting chops.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P1] Acting is one element among several — writing, direction, cinematography, editing — and the premise promotes it to the deciding factor without argument, which is what lets the conclusion follow so quickly. [Rejecting P2] The evidence offered is that a performance was popular and closely identified with its actor, which measures recognisability rather than quality; on the counter's account no performance in these films has drawn an acting nomination, and the films are built around action rather than character. [Rejecting P3] Consistency across a series is a fact about a production system — the same cast, contracts and house style — rather than a mark of achievement, and sustaining one characterisation over twenty films is arguably easier than creating one.