It was previously reported that Disney CEO Bob Iger saved current Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige from almost getting fired from the company, a demand that Iger dodged from former Marvel Entertainment CEO Isaac ‘Ike’ Perlmutter. However, a new report states that Perlmutter never had the intention at all.
“In 2015, [Ike Perlmutter] was intent on firing Kevin Feige, who was running Marvel Studios, or the movie making, at the time, and I thought that was a mistake, and stepped in to prevent that from happening,” the Disney CEO explained, “I think Kevin [Feige] is an incredibly, incredibly talented executive.”
Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal reports that the former Marvel Entertainment head denied Disney CEO’s claim that the former initially intended to have Feige sacked from the company. Perlmutter also described their blowout as a disagreement over budgeting.
The ex-chairman stated that he received profit-and-loss statements for every MCU film produced before his access to such reports was cut off in 2021. As his reputation precedes him, Perlmutter was critical when it came to budget spent on the productions.
It is worth noting though that Perlmutter was quoted for saying, “There was no way to force the issue because the creative people at the Walt Disney Company are very powerful.”
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This seems to be a running issue within the company, considering that even former Marvel exec Victoria Alonso was accused of being domineering at work when it came to taking creative control over MCU directors due to their ‘zero experience’ working on VFX.
As for Perlmutter retracting the current Disney CEO’s statement, Marvel Studios would have failed to be what it is now if Feige had not stepped in. At a certain point, Feige went straight to Bob Iger in response to Perlmutter claiming Black Panther and Captain Marvel would not profit well, seeing as Black people and women weren’t ‘profitable’.
As of writing, Kevin Feige remains in power as Chief Creative Officer of the entire company, including the publishing section.
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