Written By Kieran Bugg
Victoria Alonso of Marvel Studios was reportedly fired Disney, but the decision won’t hurt the MCU. After all, this isn’t Warner Bros. with its continuous cycle of DC scandals.
On March 20, news of Victoria Alonso’s abrupt departure from Marvel Studios exploded online. Many felt that, for whatever reason, Victoria Alonso simply quit.
However, Geekosity founder Mikey Sutton revealed on Syl Abdul’s YouTube show Rogues’ Gallery that Disney fired her. That was on March 21. Now, simply a day later, Variety reports that she was indeed fired by Disney. Thus, another scoop confirmed.
Victoria Alonso was one of Marvel Studios’ longest-serving executives. She was Marvel Studios’ president of physical production, post-production, VFX and animation. In fact, she’s worked next to Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige since its inception in 2006. For 17 years, Victoria Alonso became an active part of Marvel Studios’ massive success and gradual evolution into global domination.
Feige is rightfully regarded as the ultimate mastermind behind the MCU and its colossal global success. Nonetheless, Marvel Studios didn’t get to where it is today with just Feige behind the wheel.
Victoria Alonso’s Firing At Marvel Studios Won’t Cripple MCU
In the beginning, Victoria Alonso served as a co-producer alongside Feige for Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Thor, and Captain America: The First Avenger. Furthermore, she’s since been credited as an executive producer for all other MCU movies and Disney Plus shows.
In 2021, she was promoted to president of physical and post-production, visual effects, and animation production. However, there’s been a series of complaints from fans and critics in regards to the use of CGI since then. On one hand, it isn’t difficult to see that there’s been a significant decline in the terms of quality. Still, this shouldn’t be too much of a surprise given that the quantity of projects per year has increased since 2021.
Moreover, in recent years, various reports of VFX employees over at Marvel Studios being overworked and underpaid have circulated online. All of this has left many wondering if the MCU’s time in the spotlight has finally come to an end.
It hasn’t.
Still, Victoria Alonso’s reputation among the special-effects community took a wrong turn. And it simply got worse. Per Variety:
Starting on Reddit, followed by a series of stories published across the internet, visual effects artists began to loudly complain about Marvel’s demanding post-production schedules. Complaints ranged from unrelenting overtime to chronic understaffing to the inability to avoid delivering substandard work due to constantly changing deadlines.”
On the contrary, Variety suggests Victoria Alonso was simply given a bad hand. They add:
“Numerous sources familiar with Marvel pointed to the tremendous pressure that the unit has been under over the past few years to deliver compelling content, not just to theaters, but also in the form of new streaming shows intended to bolster Disney+. In 2021 and 2022, Marvel unloaded an unprecedented torrent of comic book adventures, releasing 17 titles — seven movies, eight streaming series and two TV specials — over 23 months.”
Victoria Alonso’s Firing At Marvel Studios Won’t Cripple MCU
Image: Disney
According to Variety, that’s where the issues began. But Victoria Alonso apparently made the situation worse. The site explained that she “blacklist artists” who upset her. Certainly, these are just rumors. Regardless, they form a vivid picture of what likely happened. Furthermore, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania didn’t quite match the box-office success of its more humble predecessors. (It wasn’t a flop, either.)
Granted, Victoria Alonso was not a creative. Whatever artistic issues Quantumania had, she shouldn’t be blamed for it. Still, Alonso has been a lightning rod of controversy from the politically conservative side of fandom. For the average Marvel follower, possibly her most polarizing claim was her views on the X-Men. In one interview, she stated:
“It’s funny that people call it the X-Men. There’s a lot of female superheroes in that X-Men group, so I think it’s outdated.”
This led to a dozen or so click-bait articles and YouTube videos scaring MCU fans into thinking that Disney would alter the name of a billion-dollar franchise. It wasn’t true then, and it won’t be now. And it has nothing to do with Alonso.
Sources clarify that Alonso’s departure doesn’t mean the MCU is crumbling down. They are simply slowing down the quantity of production to focus on the quality. There’s nothing to see here; move along now.