Last week it was reported that Marvel Studios producer Victoria Alonso was fired by Disney. Details about why she was fired are a bit more complex than it seems.
Alonso has been one of the most critical figures in Marvel Studios. She has produced every Marvel Studios project ever since Jon Favreau’s 2008 film Iron Man, the first ever MCU film. Her focus is visual effects, as she started at Marvel Studios as a Visual Effects Producer.
Before her tenure at Marvel, she also worked on films like Ridley Scott’s Kingdom of Heaven, Tim Burton’s Big Fish, 50 First Dates, Shrek and The 6th Day. She has won awards for Kingdom of Heaven and Avengers: Endgame.
She was even named on The Hollywood Reporter’s Women in Entertainment Power 100 in their December 7, 2022 article. To learn of her firing surprised many, considering how long she has worked for the company.
Victoria Alonso Fired For Working On A Non-MCU Project?
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Last Friday, it was reported by The Hollywood Reporter that the Marvel producer was in breach of contract by producing a film for a competing streaming network, Amazon Studios. Her lawyer, Patty Glaser, has said to the Los Angeles Times:
The idea that Victoria was fired over a handful of press interviews relating to a personal passion project about human rights and democracy that was nominated for an Oscar and which she got Disney’s blessing to work on is absolutely ridiculous.
The film in question is titled Argentina, 1985, is a historical legal drama directed by Santiago Mitre and has received multiple nominations and has won several awards. Alfonso, herself, comes from La Plata, Argentina, and came to the US and tried to pursue acting. She instead focused her work on visual effects.
The lawyer continued:
Victoria, a gay Latina who had the courage to criticize Disney, was silenced.
Then she was terminated when she refused to do something she believed was reprehensible. Disney and Marvel made a really poor decision that will have serious consequences. There is a lot more to this story and Victoria will be telling it shortly — in one forum or another.
It is true that she did criticise Disney. But this was during Bob Chapek’s rule, not under Bob Iger. Back in March 2022, Florida passed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. While Chapek did make an announcement not supporting the law, Alfonso felt it was not enough. A month after that, she said while receiving an award in a GLAAD event:
So I ask you again Mr. Chapek: please respect—if we’re selling family—take a stand against all of these crazy outdated laws.
A Disney spokesperson has responded to Glaser’s claims and said:
It’s unfortunate that Victoria is sharing a narrative that leaves out several key factors concerning her departure, including an indisputable breach of contract and a direct violation of company policy. We will continue to wish her the best for the future and thank her for her numerous contributions to the studio.
Marvel Producer Victoria Alonso Fired by Disney
Credit: Hollywood Film Awards
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Her work under Marvel hasn’t changed through the years. Her job as a producer focuses on visual effects. We have reported before that visual effects have been a major concern for Marvel’s recent projects. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania had a lot of criticisms, and its visual effects suffered. Reports say that it’s because effects were being done at the same time as Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
An anonymous visual effects professional has said in The Hollywood Reporter:
Whatever criticisms are being leveled against her, she’s not an island. Part of the problem is the aggressive release schedules.
Marvel’s Phase four has released many projects in the span of 2021 up to 2022. Seven films, eight TV shows and a TV special. Compare that to Phase 3, which only had 11 films in a span of 3 years. It’s hard to deny that Marvel and Disney have been trying to make more in such a short period of time. The release schedule itself can’t be blamed on Alfonso alone.
The fact that her project Argentina, 1985 in Amazon Studios won awards could have affected Disney’s decision. Not necessarily for working on the project, but it is possible that her work on the project affected her quality of work at Marvel Studios.
Bob Iger has told Marvel Studios to reevaluate their projects and slowdown, which many of the fans also feel Marvel needs to do. As much as we want to see more MCU movies and TV shows, we value quality more than quantity. And the quality has really gone down, making projects feel rushed instead of polished.
We aren’t sure what the actual cause of her firing was, and it could also be a number of things that piled up, as the Disney representative has said. Whoever is going to replace her is going to have big shoes to fill.
What do you make of Victoria Alonso’s firing by Disney? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
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