Marvel Executive Fired For Being A Toxic Bully

A Marvel executive fired for being a toxic bully. As news continues to break about the departure of Victoria Alonso from Marvel, many questions still need to be answered. It is no secret that Marvel has been in a downward spiral over the last few years. There was a time when Marvel was considered the gold standard of Superhero Films. The universe they managed to build up is regarded as the most successful franchise in cinematic history.

With 31 films, Marvel stands firm at $28.7 billion. Sadly, good times do not last forever, and Disney is finding this out the hard way. With phase 4 of Marvel not panning out the way they wanted, it was only a matter of time before heads started rolling. Many are wondering why, with news breaking, top executive Victoria Alonso left the company. Alonso is regarded as one of the masterminds behind the MCU.

Her tenure dates back 17 years, and she co-produced the original Iron Man movie in 2008. Since then. she has been involved in almost every primary product, including the highly successful 2011 Avengers movie. As impressive as these accolades are, things behind the scenes might have been much worse. Reports have been rampant online describing her as a toxic bully. It is said that you would get nowhere within the company if she did not like you.

It is worth pointing out that these rumors are still very much unconfirmed. Even if Marvel does come out and confirm that she was fired, it still would not mean much. Often times companies will use scapegoats to mask their own shortcomings, so we might never know the truth.

Things Get Worse For Marvel: VFX Community Call out Executive

One of the biggest criticisms levied against Marvel currently is their CGI. The Disney Plus series She-Hulk highlights one terrible example of bad CGI. However, She-Hulk is far from alone here. With this in mind, let’s define what Victoria Alonso is responsible for. Alonso is the President of Physical, Post Production, VFX, and Animation at Marvel Studios.

Many insiders within the VFX community are incredibly vocal about their bad experiences with Marvel. Some claim that Alonso is an insider bully who blacklists VFX artists that she does not like. Many workers claim that they cannot get work with Marvel because of past disagreements. VFX workers also claim that Alonso is a kingmaker. If she likes you, you will get a job within the industry. If she does not like you, you will never work again. Not only are workers being blacklisted by Marvel, but they are also allegedly being underpaid.

Many within the VFX community claim that they are being paid 20% less than the industry standard. Due to this, you have many VFX companies who refuse to work with Marvel. Although all of this is unconfirmed, many VFX workers are on record saying this. So the next time you see bad CGI within a Marvel movie, you may better understand why. Marvel is not alone when it comes to problems with special effects. The issue of bad CGI does run company-wide at Disney.

People have always wondered why a company as big as Disney is wrong with Special Effects. If you give your VFX workers crunch deadlines, underpay them, and create a toxic environment, people will not want to work with you.

Marvel Phase 4 Disaster: Did It Make Money?

Although the Marvel Cinematic Universe is considered the most successful in Cinematic history, the same cannot be said for Phase 4. During this phase, Marvel took a different approach. Not only did Marvel release a high volume of movies, but they also released a bunch of content for Disney Plus. Wonda Vision is a show that is widely popular amongst fans. In addition to Wonda Vision, Loki is enjoying similar success with fans.

In addition, Hawkeye and Moon Knight are also very much enjoyed by fans. While Ms. Marvel left a few things to be desired, ultimately, it is still very well received. The only massive viewer blunder in terms of viewer rating is She-Hulk. Not only did this show fail and miss the mark, but nasty comments by showrunners and actors on the show also heavily alienated fans. Although these Marvel shows are considered Oscar-worthy compared to DC shows on CW, sadly, the bar is not very high. With this in mind, we need to look at the turnover.

These Marvel Shows are expensive to produce. With no Box-Office turnover, it can be hard to justify the expenses. Although Marvel TV shows are not meant to turn over profit but rather grow Disney Plus, it can still cause problems. It is no secret that Marvel Phase 4 had few victories. Except for Spider-Man, which belongs to Sony, most movies under this phase barely broke even. With post-production reshoots, it is believed that Marvel barely made any money.
Sadly, Phase 5 is not doing much better. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania kicked off Phase 5. While currently underperforming, the movie won’t turn over a profit.

Marvel Disaster Continues: Can They Rebuild?

Although it is easy to criticize Marvel, there is still an opportunity for them to rebuild. Although their numbers are not what they used to be, a massive amount of people still watch. As the older audience moves away, Marvel does have the opportunity to appeal to a new, younger group. To do this, they will have to do the one thing that they hate most. Listen to what the fan base wants. The demand of the current viewer base is low.

Stop fighting politicians in Florida and start making good movies. No one cares what you think about the latest social or political issues. We do not care who you vote for in the upcoming political election. What we care about is the next Avengers movie. Please tell us how you will be moving the MCU forward. You focus on your Superhero story-writing abilities and let CNN and Fox News do the politics. Crazy producers yelling about the term Men in X-Men is not helping anyone.

Building up inclusion and diversity is OK. If this is an issue for anyone, they can leave. However, most superhero fans want to escape reality and focus on the story. There used to be a time when this was all Marvel did. Returning to these roots will go a long way in building trust. Marvel only needs a new movie release in a few months. Take the time you need and release quality content when it is ready. If Marvel focuses on fan service, they still have a healthy future ahead. Although they are experiencing some box office disappointment, the movies they are releasing are not terrible. Unfortunately, in today’s climate, not being terrible is not enough.

Disaster As Disney Continues To Spiral: 4000 People Fired

Unfortunately, not just Marvel alone is having a hard time. Their parent company, Disney, is facing similar struggles. A report is making the rounds that Disney is planning on laying off over 4000 workers in April. This comes after a dismal stock performance last year. Current CEO Bob Iger recently stated that the decision to lay off employees does not come lightly. In February, it was formally announced that Disney would be laying off 7000 employees in order to save $5.5 Billion.

The current plan is to fire 4000 people and allow the other 3000 positions to go to waste. This means once they go vacant, no rehirings will be done. In a company with 200 000 employees, 4000 might not sound too much. However, this is a highly significant cut and one that shows how bad things at Disney currently are. Although Disney won’t be going out of business anytime soon, the long-term effects of this spiral can spell disaster for them.

Disney also recently announced that all employees will be ordered back to work. This is the latest in a list of overhauls CEO Bob Iger is trying to make. Disney is spread quite large. They make movies, cover sports, and have theme parks. With all these businesses taking a hit, it is understandable why Disney is panicking.

Disaster As Lucasfilm Spiral: No Hope For 2025 Star Wars

While a lot is being made about the recent exit of Marvel executive Victoria Alonso over at Lucas Films, things are not looking any better. Recent reports reveal that stuff for the upcoming 2025 Star Wars Movie does not look too good. It is reported that two writers by the names of Damon Lindelof and Justin Britt-Gibson have left their forthcoming Star Wars movie. This comes days after they submitted a script for the upcoming project.

The upcoming Star Wars movie set to release in 2025 will be directed by Ms. Marvels Sharmeen Bobaid-Chinoy. With these two writers out at Lucas Film, the Ms. Marvel director now stands alone as the only creative lead. Sadly for Lucas Film, this is not where the bad times end. Recently, another executive was fired. This time, executive producer Karyn McCarthy worked on the Disney Plus show Acolyte. McCarthy, however, did not take her firing lying down.

She filed a wrongful termination suit against Lucas Film, claiming that they reneged on their deal. She also claims that she was never compensated for any of her work. When she approached Lucas Film privately, asking to be paid for the work that was done, they refused to do so. As per the complaint, “McCarthy is therefore forced to bring this action to hold Lucasfilm accountable for its egregious breach of their agreement, its bad faith denial of that agreement and the statutory penalties McCarthy is entitled to its failure to pay her for her work.” All of this does further play into the narrative that things over at Disney are bad company-wide.

The Mandalorian Suffers Massive Setback

While Executives are being fired by Marvel and leaving Star Wars Projects by Lucas Films, another project taking a hit right now is The Mandaloriam. While other Star Wars projects take a hit, the Mandolorian stands strong. Ever since its inception in 2019, it became an instant classic. Both fans and critics have done nothing but praise the show. While they initially received some negative press due to the handling of Gina Carano, this did not slow them down.

Despite everything, The Mandalorian is still the most popular show on Disney Plus. The show’s third season is receiving massive praise from the audience who watched it this far. Sadly, that audience is shrinking. With a premier opening that reached less than 1.5 million households, the Mandalorian experienced a massive decline in viewership. Now, to be clear, several factors must be considered here. First of all, it is normal for shows to take a dip.

Secondly, The Mandalorian releases episodes every week. Many people have grown accustomed to full seasons being released at once. Due to this, many people, including myself, like to wait for the entire season to be available before starting to watch. This is a common practice if the series is delightful. Only some people like to stay week after week. This means that even though The Mandalorian suffered some drop-off, they can still return those numbers.

With that said, some believe that the series should come to an end. While the show is still fun to watch, many fear that stretching it out further can hurt its legacy.

Will Kathleen Kennedy Be Fired

With everything happening at Disney, CEO Bob Iger is clear about what he wants from his studio CEOs. Quality over quantity. Sadly, this will never happen in a Corporation that expects growth forever. The Star Wars Sequel Trilogy is a massive success when you look purely at the numbers. Throughout three movies, they garnered $4.475 billion at the box office. If you take their $1.18 billion into consideration, this is a massive profit. However, it is always the viewer experience that counts the most.

While Star Wars: The Force Awakens is primarily loved by fans, with 85% on rotten tomatoes, the sequel, the Last Jedi, did much worse. The movie is currently sitting at a dismal 42% viewer score. While Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker did manage to rebuild some of its reputation with fans, sadly, here they fell flat with an overall score of 42%. While the success of The Mandalorian lies with Iron Man star Jon Favreau, the bad reputation of the Trilogy lies with Kathleen Kennedy. With this, many have been calling for her removal.

Reports have been rampant that Disney will remove Kennedy from Lucas Films soon. With this news, many hope Jon Favreau will take her place. Sadly, for many, there is no truth to these rumors currently. However, it is worth pointing out that Kathleen Kennedy is not in charge of Star Wars. She is in the order of Lucas Film. There is another popular series under this studio: Indiana Jones. With the release of Indiana Jones 5, Pressure will be on Kennedy now more than ever.

Is There Hope for Indiana Jones?

With so much negativity and conversation around Star Wars, we must focus on the upcoming Indiana Jones movie. Over the last few years, Lucas Films has had a poor reputation among fans. Fans have been nervous about the 30 June 2023 release of Indiana Jones for a while now. Firstly, it will be the first time that Steven Spielberg will not take up the Director’s chair. Instead, he will share the producer cap with Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall.

Additionally, this will likely be the last movie with Harrison Ford. At 80 years old, you can’t imagine him going to another movie. With this, some fans are worried about how he will be written off the show. Speculation about a Female Indiana Jones has been rampant for years. This is a highly likely scenario with how Disney casts its leads. Rumors have also been making the rounds online that Indiana Jones will be erased from the movie to make way for a female lead. Although this rumor is entirely false, the next film will likely feature a leading woman.

In the upcoming movie, Phoebe Waller-Bridge will be the female lead. While she still shares screen time now, in the next film, the leading role could be exclusively hers. There is yet to be a clear indication of how this movie will turn out. The previous film did leave plenty to be desired, and thus, fans will be eager for redemption. However, with the current lousy reputation of both Disney and Lucas Films, many will likely dismiss the movie before even trying it. Honestly, it will be hard to blame fans should they choose to do this.