As the old adage goes, “The more things change, the more things stay the same.”
According to a new whisper from within the halls of Disney, while Marvel Studios has reportedly learned from their recent mistakes and “cleaned house” of any and all of its “activist” producers, Lucasfilm is choosing to keep on their creatively bankrupt path to self-destruction.
Word of this apparent divergence between the House of Mouse’s two subsidiary studios was first raised on August 2nd by Film Threat founder Chris Gore during a recent appearance on The Critical Drinker’s Drinker’s Open Bar podcast.
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Offering his thoughts on the Marvel Studios’ near-future outlook in light of their showing at the recent 2024 San Diego Comic-Con, Gore opined, “I think we’re gonna get a year of bad Marvel stuff. TV shows, you’ve got Agatha [All Along], you’ve got Ironheart, these two movies [Captain America: Brave New World and Thunderbolts]. Fantastic Four, we’ll see.”
“We’ll see how Robert Downey Jr. will be used,” he added, referring to the news that the former Iron Man actor would be playing Doctor Doom in the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars duology. “Is he a variant of Tony Stark? Is he just an actor playing a different character? So, whatever it is, I think it’s interesting.”
In further arguing for his optimism, Gore then asserted “I do know people who work at Marvel – they have cleaned house. They quietly, months ago, fired all the producers that could be labeled ‘activist’.”
“Unlike Lucasfilm,” he declared. “Lucasfilm is lost. They are doubling down on all the nonsense. You will never get anything good out of Lucasfilm and Star Wars. That’s it.”
Turning to explain the reasons behind Marvel Studios’ apparent house cleaning, Gore detailed, “Kevin Feige recognizes – basically, he said he tried it, it didn’t work..”
“He’s talking about Phase 4,” continued the noted film critic. “That’s it. Tried it, didn’t work. No Kang, none of these side characters that don’t have the legacy of classic characters. And if Deadpool & Wolverine proves anything…you’ve heard that phrase ‘male and pale is stale’? That was spoken aloud across studios. But if you look at box office this year, I would say ‘male and pale is money’. And that’s the phrase that I think people should more adopt.”
Ultimately, whether or not Marvel Studios actually has changed their post-Phase 4, identity politics-based approach to the Marvel Cinematic Universe remains to be seen.
(And unfortunately, given Pedro Pascal’s casting as Reed Richards in Fantastic Four, if they have, the results likely won’t be seen until at least Avengers: Doomsday.)
Until then, fans will have to suffer through Agatha: All Along, which hits Disney Plus on September 18th.
