David Pierdomenico
For the past decade, Disney seems to be on a Thanos like quest to acquire all the franchises and other companies they possibly can. They recently went so far as to spend more than $50 billion to absorb 21st Century Fox. Back in 2009, they purchased Marvel itself, and by 2013 had acquired the distribution rights of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, including the few films that had already been distributed by Paramount. Incorporating Marvel into this behemoth of a company has certainly expanded its reach and merchandising, but it hasn’t all been for the better.
The James Gunn Debacle
A great deal has already been said regarding Disney’s firing of James Gunn, following the revelation of many offensive tweets. Many fans were unhappy as they felt that this matter had already come to light in 2013 and that it wasn’t really an issue anymore. Disney surprised everyone when they seemed to fire him rather quickly before mounting an investigation or even taking time to consider all options. Whether or not he should have been fired or should be reinstated is not what will be discussed. For beneath the surface of this controversy lies a much deeper problem: the loss of creative control.
It’s no secret that not too long before this incident, Disney faced backlash from fans when they fired Roseanne Barr for a racist tweet she made. Many of her right wing fans were outraged, and so when these tweets form Gunn came up, they demanded he receive the same treatment, especially given how vocally critical he is of the right. Politics shouldn’t play a role in entertainment, but unfortunately it does. Roseanne’s career status shouldn’t have any bearing on the employment of Marvel’s directors, but unfortunately it does. The second Marvel joined Disney, they became subject to all the office politics and baggage that Disney brought with them.
But now, because of Disney’s issue from one of their subsidiaries (ABC), Marvel will suffer. They’ve lost their director for Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 3. Because Gunn was such an integral part of that series, the third film will now be seen as a failure no matter how good it is. Fans will say it’s not as good as the previous two and whomever Disney hires to direct will take the brunt of the blame, even if they do a spectacular job. This also derails Marvel’s plan to have Gunn oversee all of their films set in space from here on out. He was to be the architect of a sort of sub-universe involving the Guardians, the Ravagers, and many other fascinating space characters. Yet, that’s all out the window now, all because they made a deal with Disney. Kevin Feige has reportedly sided with Disney on the firing. But he’d be a fool not to. It would be bad publicity for him to criticize the parent company. But he probably wouldn’t have done the same, had the decision been entirely up to him.
Only “Family Friendly”
Most recently, Disney’s deal with Fox has been the subject of major headlines (more on that here). For Marvel fans, the biggest deal is the fact that previous properties like X-Men and Fantastic Four may now return under the MCU banner. But it does leave beloved favorites like Deadpool in a rather precarious position. Disney is known for their family friendly image. And while they’ve allowed “R” rated films to be released by their subsidiaries before, they seem to be taking a more hands on approach with Marvel and Star Wars, especially.
Certainly Fox Searchlight will continue to put out award winning dramas, regardless of rating, but Disney will want to keep their superhero world as clean as can be. Which most likely means no Deadpool 3 or X-Force films in the future. While it’s true Marvel wouldn’t have these at all without the Disney deal, it’s likely that eventually they would have gotten the rights back. It also means that we’ll most likely never get the MCU debut of Blade, unless he’s toned down considerably in terms of violence. Though, to be fair, Marvel’s Netflix shows like Daredevil and Jessica Jones have been allowed to get by with TV-MA ratings. Partly because they’re on Netflix, and partly because, let’s be honest, the TV series are very much on Marvel’s backburner.
It’s not that Disney hasn’t been advantageous for the MCU. They’ve allowed them to expand onto the TV scene with ABC Studios. They’ve given them publicity and theme park attractions, along with Star Wars and other major franchises. But at the end of the day, wouldn’t Marvel Studios be better off on their own? They still could have done all the films they did, but just under the Paramount banner as they did before. It still would have led to Infinity War and Avengers 4. But it wouldn’t have forced Marvel to have to deal with issues coming from other branches of Disney.
