While Avatar and Avengers Infinity Saga may be two of the biggest box office phenomenon of the 21st century, one MCU star is far from impressed!

Despite having some of the biggest brand names attached to her resume, Zoe Saldaña is not happy about suffering through a creative slump in her career. The MCU star has not only been one of the most successful artists that Hollywood has ever known but also brought in four of the most critically and commercially hit films to the industry to date.

Zoe Saldaña as Gamora in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 [Credit: Marvel Studios]

Zoe Saldaña’s reputation as an artist as such stays intact although her artistic vulnerabilities have been struggling to burrow a way out into the open. The actress has not only been critical of herself but also the industry that has pigeonholed her into a stereotypical face of the big franchise IPs, whether it be Avengers or Avatar.

Zoe Saldaña sets a major record in Hollywood

Very few actors in the industry have enjoyed a wildly successful, flourishing, and thriving career with back-to-back billion-dollar hits at the box office that have also doubled as commercially attractive fan-favorite films. Zoe Saldaña holds a rare record in that regard with her record-making leading roles in James Cameron‘s Avatar franchise as well as MCU’s Avengers saga.

Zoe Saldaña in Avatar [Credit: 20th Century Studios]

Her first billion-dollar hit came with the 2009 feature, Avatar that did not waste any time claiming that top spot at the box office charts with its staggering worldwide earnings. Currently, the amount stands at $2.92 billion (via The Numbers). Soon after, Saldaña made her lucrative MCU debut with James Gunn‘s Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy that then weaved itself into the Infinity Saga two-part finale, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.

The 2018 and 2019 movies respectively earned $2.04 billion and $2.75 billion at the box office (via The Numbers). 3 years later, Saldaña once again reprised her role as Neytiri in Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water that blindsided the world with its unprecedented vision, cinematography, storytelling, and expansive visual effects, ultimately earning $2.31 billion (via The Numbers).

Zoe Saldaña finds herself stuck in her career

Zoe Saldaña in Special Ops: Lioness [Credit: Paramount Network]

Despite being the sole actor in the history of the film and television industry to establish such an impressive box office feat, the burden and responsibility of steering such iconic big-budget franchises failed to make Zoe Saldaña happy. The actress not only felt restricted and constrained within the boundaries set by her roles as Neytiri and Gamora within the Avatar and Avengers universes but also felt typecast and unable to break free from the established system.

The creative bone in her body sought to liberate itself and explore roles beyond the world of big-budget blockbusters. Unlike aspiring and struggling actors who look to make it big one day, the tedious monotony of the big-budget films felt stale to the artistic sensibilities of Zoe Saldaña. These films did not provide her with enough leeway to expand her talent and creativity.

In a 2022 interview with Women’s Wear Daily, Saldaña finally revealed:

I feel that for the last 10 years of my life, I’ve been just stuck. I felt stuck doing these franchises. I’m very grateful for the opportunities that they provided, from collaborating with amazing directors and getting to meet cast members that I consider friends and getting to play a role that fans, especially children, love. But it also meant that I felt artistically stuck in my craft of not being able to expand or grow or challenge myself by playing different sorts of genres and different roles.

While all of that may be true, Zoe Saldaña has also recently wrenched back control from her industry-assigned identity to star in an off-the-beaten-path Netflix project titled From Scratch that she related to on a personal level. Her collaboration with Taylor Sheridan in Special Ops: Lioness also stands out for being way off from her usual foray into the MCU and other IP blockbusters.

Zoe Saldaña’s upcoming role in James Cameron’s third installment, Avatar: Fire and Ash is slated to release on December 19, 2025.