A German official said “organized crime” was likely responsible for stealing a valuable cache of Celtic gold coins this week from a museum.

At least 483 coins dating back to about 100 B.C. were stolen from the Celtic and Roman Museum in Manching, Germany, early Tuesday morning. The coins, discovered during an archaeological excavation in the area in 1999, are worth millions of dollars. 

“It’s clear that you don’t simply march into a museum and take this treasure with you,” said Markus Blume, Bavaria’s minister of science and arts, during a Wednesday interview with BR, a public broadcaster. “It’s highly secured and as such there’s a suspicion that we’re rather dealing with a case of organized crime.”

The museum’s surveillance and the town’s phone systems were down during the heist, according to Blume. Three other items were also nabbed during the theft. 

“The loss of the Celtic treasure is a disaster,” Blume said. “As a testament to our history, the gold coins are irreplaceable.”

The city’s mayor, Herbert Nerb, told German outlet Sueddeutsche Zeitung that the city’s communication networks had been “cut off.”

“The museum is actually a high-security location. But all the connections to the police were severed,” he said. 

He blamed “professionals” for the theft and said the heist was a “catastrophe.”

When the coins were discovered more than twenty years ago near Manching, the finding became the largest stash of Celtic gold found in the 20th century, according to The Associated Press. The small town, with a population of about 11,000, is 37 miles north of Munich. 

The Celts were an Indo-European people who settled throughout Europe, including parts of what is now Germany, especially the southern portions. The earliest archaeological evidence of the Celts can be found in an Austrian settlement dated back to around 700 B.C. 

Museum officials are concerned that the thieves might melt down the coins, making them impossible to track down and recover. Blume said the thieves had demonstrated “incredible criminal energy.”

Police have blamed other German museum thefts on organized crime in recent years, including the 2019 robbery of 21 valuable pieces of jewelry from the Green Vault museum in Dresden. Authorities linked members of the Remmo-Clan, a Berlin-based crime family. Several members have been arrested, but the trial is ongoing, and none of the pieces of jewelry, worth roughly $128 million, have been found.

Celebrated filmmaker Quentin Tarantino is facing criticism for candid comments he made about actors in Marvel movies not being legitimate stars.

The “Kill Bill” director made the remarks while speaking with Tom Segura for his podcast “2 Bears 1 Cave.”

“I don’t love them,” Tarantino said of Marvel films. “No, I don’t. I don’t hate them. But I don’t love them. I mean, look, I used to collect Marvel comics like crazy when I was a kid.”

“There’s an aspect that if these movies were coming out when I was in my twenties, I would totally be f***king happy and totally love them. [But] they wouldn’t be the only movies being made, they would be those movies amongst other movies. I’m almost 60 so I’m not quite as excited about them,” he continued.

Tarantino repeated a common criticism of the films, claiming they are overhyped and repetitive, plus leave less room for more creative projects.

“My only ax to grind is they’re the only things that seem to be made,” the 59-year-old director said. “And they’re the only things that seem to generate any kind of excitement amongst a fan base or even for the studio making them … So it’s just the fact that they are the entire representation of this era of movies right now. There’s not really much room for anything else. That’s my problem. It’s a problem of representation.”

Next, he took a dig at the actors in Marvel movies, saying they weren’t actually who people were coming to see. Tarantino claimed moviegoers only cared about superheroes on screen no matter who was playing them.

“Part of the Marvel-ization of Hollywood is you have all these actors who have become famous playing these characters,” he asserted. “But they’re not movie stars. Right? Captain America is the star. Thor is the star. I’m not the first person to say that. I think that’s been said a zillion times, but it’s these franchise characters that become a star.”

Finally, the “Reservoir Dogs” director pined for movie star roles of the past.

“Back in 2005, if an actor stars in a movie that does as good as the Marvel movies do, then that guy’s an absolute star,” he explained.

“It means people dig him or her and they like them and want to see them in stuff. Sandra Bullock is in ‘Speed’ and everyone thought she’s amazing in it. Everyone fell in love with her … They were excited by Sandra Bullock and wanted to see her in something else. That’s not the case now. We want to see that guy playing Wolverine or whatever.”

Tarantino’s observations did not amuse several followers.

Deadpool creator Robert Liefeld retweeted a story about Tarantino’s comments, calling it “the hottest of hot takes.”

In a later tweet, he shared, “As a writer/creator it’s my passion as well as my job to create compelling characters and worlds that draw the audience in and connect with them. Same thing that drives Stephen King, George R.R. Martin, so many others. I’m in the character business.”

Marvel actor Simu Liu, who starred in “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,” also made his opinion known on Twitter. He claimed that signing onto a Marvel project was his only chance to make it in Hollywood. 

“If the only gatekeepers to movie stardom came from Tarantino and Scorsese, I would never have had the opportunity to lead a $400 million plus movie. I am in awe of their filmmaking genius. They are transcendent auteurs,” he wrote of Tarantino.  

“But they don’t get to point their nose at me or anyone. No movie studio is or ever will be perfect. But I’m proud to work with one that has made sustained efforts to improve diversity onscreen by creating heroes that empower and inspire people of all communities everywhere. I loved the ‘Golden Age’ too.. but it was white as hell.”