James Cameron boldly declares special effects in Avatar: The Way Of Water trump ... trends now

After more than a decade in the works, the much-anticipated sequel to the epic science fiction film Avatar (2009) is set to premiere in theaters on December 16.

As part of the promotional push, director and co-writer James Cameron has been talking up the look of Avatar: The Way Of Water, which comes courtesy of extensive motion capture technology.

In a recent interview with "ComicBook.com, Cameron went as far as to declare that 'it's not even close' when you compare the special effects in the Avatar sequel and Marvel's own VFX work in recent films like Avengers: Endgame.

'I just want to say ahead of time that I'm not going to diss the Marvel or DC Universe. Love those movies. Let's just get that off the table,' Cameron, 68, began off the top of the interview.

The acclaimed filmmaker, who has often been critical of superhero films, couldn't help himself and proceeded to do exactly that: diss the special effects of recent Marvel films.

Initially, he applauded the overall quality of the special effects work being done by various artists, which in turn serves as motivation for everyone to step up their game.

'Obviously the big comic book films have been driving the sheer volume of the industry, right. And the rising tide of technique raises everybody together. 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,' the Oscar winner explained.