After a brutal post-Avengers: Endgame (2019) era that saw Marvel Studios produce a few flops and lose its overall luster with fans, the Disney division appears to have learned its lesson. Bounding Into Comics says, “Marvel Studios has reportedly learned from their recent mistakes and ‘cleaned house’ of any and all of its ‘activist’ producers[.]”
Film Threat founder Chris Gore revealed 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 added that Marvel Studios Chief “Kevin Feige recognizes – basically, he said he tried it, it didn’t work”:
“He’s talking about Phase 4,” continued the noted film critic. “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.”
Oh noes, does this mean two hairy guys won’t be necking like we saw in that hideous flop The Eternals? No more woke lectures? No more girlbossing Marvels?
Well, we shall see. Obviously, Marvel knows it has a problem. Announcing the return of Robert Downey Jr. at this year’s Comic Con was an act of pure desperation on Marvel’s part. I’m guessing it was also an unbelievably expensive act of desperation. But Marvel wisely understood his price was worth it after the struggling studio peered into a future that revealed a billion-dollar production and promotion price for two upcoming Avengers movies and a potential box office catastrophe without a course correction.
Originally, Kang the Conqueror was supposed to be the main villain in both of those Avengers movies. But after actor Jonathan Majors got himself in some #MeToo trouble, he was fired. So now Downey is back. He will be the villain in the form of Dr. Doom — an all-new character we are told. Iron Man died in Endgame, but in all this multiverse nonsense nothing is permanent, so this Dr. Doom could be some multiverse version of Tony Stark. The fact that the multiverse removes all the dramatic stakes doesn’t seem to bother the fanboys.
Nevertheless: Kill the woketardery. Bring back Robert Downey Jr.? Could work.
The same report tells us Lucasfilm — home of Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and Willow — has decided to “double down” on the leftist preaching that has destroyed all three of those once invulnerable franchises.
“Unlike Lucasfilm,” Gore said. “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.”
Honestly, does anyone even care anymore if Star Wars continues to suck? Lucasfilm chiefstress Kathleen Kennedy has battered the Star Wars fans to a point where they expect everything to suck. The only hope they have left is that it sucks a little less. And after the Disney+ streaming show The Acolyte, that bar is mighty low.
John Nolte’s first and last novel, Borrowed Time, is winning five-star raves from everyday readers. You can read an excerpt here and an in-depth review here. Also available in hardcover and on Kindle and Audiobook.