9 Years Later, Marvel Still Hasn’t Outgrown Its Worst Instincts

It took an entire decade for Marvel’s Cinematic Universe to put a female hero center stage. As the story goes, that was largely due to skepticism from Ike Perlmutter, then-CEO of Marvel Entertainment. Perlmutter served as the head of Marvel through and a storm of anti-woke controversy.

Iger’s attitude in the wake of the film’s release wasn’t very reassuring, either. The exec claimed that The Marvels suffered from a lack of on-set supervision, and that creators have “lost sight” of their main objective within the Disney brand. “We have to entertain first,” Iger said. “It’s not about messages.”

Not even Iger seems to understand what Disney and its subsidiaries really need. The company wants to position itself as the antithesis to figures like Peltz and Perlmutter, but it can’t do that without reevaluating its relationship to marginalized filmmakers and fans. It’ll take more than a quiet retooling to bring Disney out of Perlmutter’s shadow; hopefully Iger realizes that before it’s too late.