As has been reported heavily this week, there’s been a restructuring at Marvel Studios, with the company disengaging from Marvel Entertainment and CEO Ike Perlmutter and instead reporting directly to Disney. This is great news for Marvel Studios and president Kevin Feige, who will now have more control over the direction (and finances) of the MCU. But Feige was very close to leaving the studio entirely thanks to problems withCaptain America: Civil War.
THR reports that Feige and Perlmutter were engaged in heavy conflict over Civil War, particularly regarding the budget — the third installment in the Captain America series is essentially Avengers 2.5 with a very large cast and huge scope. Perlmutter has been well-known for years as an extremely financially conservative executive, and he wanted Feige to “scale it down,” which would result in a less costly — and less good — production.
Perlmutter and Marvel’s “creative committee” (Alan Fine, Marvel publisher Dan Buckley and Chief Creative Officer Joe Quesada) are still overseeing Marvel’s TV and publishing efforts, but Feige and Marvel Studios will now answer only to Disney. But the tussle with Perlmutter and the creative committee over Captain America: Civil War reportedly became so frustrating that Feige almost abandoned the MCU entirely.
The shakeup is good news for the future of the MCU, as it’s been widely reported that Perlmutter’s intense oversight and scrutiny of the division has been keeping us from seeing more women and people of color in Marvel films. According to reports, Perlmutter is the reason why Marvel and Disney put out so few Black Widow products for Avengers: Age of Ultron, and may be responsible for why it took Marvel so long to announce a woman-fronted superhero film.
Captain America: Civil War recently wrapped principal photography, so it’s unclear just how much of Perlmutter’s oversight has already interfered with Feige’s vision for that film, or if there will be any changes made in post-production now that Perlmutter and the creative committee are out of the picture.
Captain America: Civil War hits theaters on May 6, 2016.
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