After a terrible post-Avengers, the Disney division of Marvel has fired its activists. So maybe we won’t get something like The Eternals again, or lectures or girl bosses. On the bright side, the company knows it has a problem. Robert Downey Jr. returning to this year’s Comic Con was an incredibly expensive act of desperation. But without course correction terrible box office returns are going to continue.
Marvel quietly cleaned house
A couple people have noted this, among them Bounding Into Comics. “Marvel Studios has reportedly learned from their recent mistakes and ‘cleaned house’ of any and all of its ‘activist’ producers[.]”
Film Threat Chris Gore spoke on a podcast. “I do know people who work at Marvel – they have cleaned house. They quietly, months ago, fired all the producers that could be labeled ‘activist.’” Gore mentioned Marvel Studios Chief “Kevin Feige recognizes – basically, he said he tried it, it didn’t work”:
Gore continued,
“He’s talking about Phase 4. That’s it. Tried it, didn’t work. No Kang, none of these side characters that don’t have the legacy of classic characters. And if Deadpool & Wolverine proves anything … you’ve heard that phrase ‘male and pale is stale’? That was spoken aloud across studios. But if you look at box office this year, I would say ‘male and pale is money’. And that’s the phrase that I think people should more adopt.”
Kang the Conqueror in trouble
The actor for that, Jonathan Majors, got himself into #MeToo trouble and was terminated so Downey is back. He is the villain Dr. Doom, a new character.
Although Iron Man died in Endgame, all the multiverse insanity means nothing is permanent. Dr. Doom could become some multiverse version of Tony Stark.
Bottom line is the woke crap needs to go. No more political correctness.
Downey could help Marvel
On the other hand, Lucasfilm has doubled down on it. If decades old companies like Disney can be brought to its knees from a concept, it can happen to Lucasfilm too.
Gore said Lucasfilm is gone. “Unlike Lucasfilm. Lucasfilm is lost. They are doubling down on all the nonsense. You will never get anything good out of Lucasfilm and Star Wars. That’s it.”
Does anybody care if Star Wars continues to be lousy? You can only hope it plateaus a little, to suck a little less. But the bar is awfully low.
