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Marvel Entertainment and its divisions, including Marvel Games, are being folded into Disney as part of cost-cutting measures.
Disney has laid off longtime Marvel executive Isaac ‘Ike’ Perlmutter, according to the New York Times. The report states that Perlmutter was fired as part of larger cost-cutting measures at the company, while Disney plans to fold Marvel Entertainment - the division responsible for comics, merchandise and videogames - into various parts of the larger company.
Perlmutter has made a name for himself though a long and storied career at Marvel Comics, but often not in the best of ways. The billionaire joined Marvel Comics’ board of directors in 1993 and later became the CEO famously responsible for selling the company to Disney for $4 billion in 2009, changing the course of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the brand as a whole irrevocably.
Perlmutter gained a reputation for being exceptionally frugal during his time as CEO, and saying rather questionable things like defending Don Cheadle’s recasting as James Rhodes over Terrence Howard because Black people, “look the same.” The exec also reportedly put up ‘roadblocks’ to stop Marvel Studios from specifically making Black Panther and Captain Marvel. He also attempted to fire Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige, until Disney CEO Bob Iger intervened and removed Perlmutter’s involvement in the film division entirely.
Perlmutter was then relegated to Marvel Entertainment’s other endeavours, such as comics publishing, Marvel Games’ licensing, merchandising and arena shows. Now that Perlmutter and Marvel Entertainment’s co-president Rob Steffens have been laid off, Disney’s plans for the division remain murky. The company isn’t likely to throw away the comics business entirely, but we could see other aspects of Marvel Entertainment get slimmed down or be removed.
Disney announced recently that it would lay off 7,000 employees during a $5.5 billion cut to improve its financial earnings. Disney’s cable TV production, content acquisition and metaverse divisions were the first to go, with two more waves of firings set for April and beyond.