Earlier this week – amid much discussion in the industries but not much grumbling elsewhere – Disney made a massive and drastic change to the Marvel Studios executive team: they fired Victoria Alonso with extreme and shocking suddenness, and “with good reason.” Although Alonso does not have her boss Kevin Feige’s front-facing name, at this point she has been one of the greatest architects of the Marvel Cinematic Universe project for over a decade, stretching back to Iron Man and eventual rise to the role of President of Physical , post production, VFX and animation in the studio. In this position, she was one of Feige’s key right hands, tasked with ensuring that both the physical production and – increasingly important and controversial – the digital production of the Marvel films ran smoothly.
Now reports are emerging that Alonso, who was fired by a panel of Disney bigwigs in a decision that Feige ultimately chose not to intervene in, according to Variety, may be taking legal action against her termination. This includes making threatening statements this weekend, backing up to Disney’s alleged reasons for her firing, calling her “absolutely ridiculous” and saying she was “silenced” by the company for promoting LGBTQ+ used rights.
Here’s the general state of affairs from both sides: Disney says it’s firing Alonso for no other reason than her recent participation in Argentina, 1985, an Argentine legal drama that was Oscar-nominated this year and starring the Argentine-born Alonso produced An. (Disney says she broke her contract by working on a non-Disney film and then continued promoting it; Alonso’s team says she had permission to do so.)
Alonso’s attorneys, meanwhile, have suggested that Alonso (who is LGBTQ+) was fired for being one of the most vocal internal voices urging Disney to oppose Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” laws over the past year. That included standing up in front of GLAAD and calling then-Disney CEO Bob Chapek by name and saying, “So I’m asking you again, Mr. Chapek: please respect — if we’re selling family — stand up against all these crazy outdated laws.” . Stand up for the family.” Deadline reports that Alonso was subsequently “benched” from his press duties by Disney and refused to participate in the promotion of recent Marvel films; They also say she was asked by a Disney exec to do something “reprehensible” (but undescribed) that served as the final straw leading to her firing.
(Disney has questioned this version of events, issuing a response statement in fairly familiar “Gosh, we’re sorry you got that so wrong” language, saying, “It’s unfortunate that Victoria shares a narrative , who goes on to highlight several key factors in her departure, including an undeniable breach of contract and a direct violation of company policy.”)
What neither side is saying (officially, at least) is that over the past year or two, Marvel’s production and post-production practices have increasingly been viewed as a shit show, with visual effects houses reporting massive overhaul and being on tight deadlines, and critics and audiences slamming severely replicates the look of recent films like Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania. (THR cites unnamed sources suggesting Disney execs were pissed that Alonso was promoting Argentina in 1985 amid mounting criticism of the Marvel VFX pipeline.) Regardless of the actual causes of these pile-ups — including some anonymous reports of harsh treatment by Alonso from the VFX artists, but also, much broader, complaints about Marvel’s mix of unfocused work requests and grueling production schedules – it’s not hard to see Alonso as a suitable target for all of the company’s recent production blunders.
The question now is whether all this will end up in court. Alonso’s attorney Patty Glaser – who is currently suing Disney in a very different case over the firing of executive producer Karyn McCarthy from the Star Wars television series The Acolyte – certainly thought it was a possibility, ending a recent statement by saying, “There is a lot more to that story and Victoria will be sharing it shortly – in one forum or another.” (Alonso also has a paper, Possibility Is A Superpower, due out in May; it will be interesting to see how she does it Narration updated in light of last week.)