Stephen King criticizes ‘almost pornographic’ violence in superhero movies

Stephen King is not one for holding back when it comes to brutality, a trait he believes more superhero movies should adopt.

The prolific author compared the way violence is depicted in superhero movies, such as some in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and DC Studios, to what he wanted for the film adaptation of his book written under his pseudonym Richard Bachman, The Long Walk.

“If you look at these superhero movies, you’ll see…some supervillain who’s destroying whole city blocks but you never see any blood,” King said in an interview with The Times U.K. “And man, that’s wrong. It’s almost, like, pornographic.”

He added of the way violence is presented in The Long Walk, “I said, if you’re not going to show it, don’t bother. And so they made a pretty brutal movie.”

To be fair to the creators of superhero movies, they typically avoid graphic violence to appeal to a broader audience than King’s adaptations do, specifically families and younger viewers. Still, there have been plenty of R-rated superhero films released that don’t hold back when it comes to brutal, bloody violence, including 1998’s Blade, 2009’s Watchmen, the Deadpool films, 2019’s Hellboy, 2021’s The Suicide Squad, and 2024’s Kraven the Hunter, among others.

But King was very clear about the one condition he had for the adaptation of his 1979 dystopian horror novel — viewers must “see the teenagers being shot.”

The Long Walk follows a group of 50 teenage boys who volunteer to participate in an annual competition, in which they must maintain a walking pace of 3 miles per hour until contestants are eliminated — literally — one by one, leaving only one winner left standing. 

And the scenes aren’t for the faint-hearted. In fact, a graphic kill scene from the movie had to be blacked out from a clip shown at a panel during this year’s San Diego Comic-Con. 

One of the film’s stars, Tut Nyuot, previously told EW that filming the movie was not an easy feat — physically or mentally.

“We’re walking, we’re actually walking,” said Nyuot, who plays the competitor Arthur. “It’s something that I don’t think has ever been done, just constantly on the move. So mentally, just getting into that headspace and just staying locked in and treating every scene as if it’s new, ’cause we’re doing it so many times. We filmed one scene a day.”

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Nyuot’s castmate Garrett Wareing, who plays fellow walker Stebbins, said he managed to record the number of steps he took on set.

“I had my phone in my backpack the whole time, so I had to hide it, but I had my counter, right?” he said. “We were all walking — in addition to our crew members as well, who I want to shout out here — we were all walking eight to 15 miles a day. So what is it? 25,000 to 30,000 steps?”

The film also stars Mark Hamill, Judy Greer, Jordan Gonzalez, David Jonsson, and Roman Griffin Davis.

The Long Walk hits theaters nationwide on Friday, Sept. 12.