It’s fitting that Kevin Feige had an arch-nemesis of his own given that his entire life has revolved around nothing but superheroes for over 15 years, but there were a couple of occasions where Ike Perlmutter almost ended up securing victory in the ongoing battle opposite the figurehead and architect of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
As the head of the franchise’s notorious “Creative Committee,” Perlmutter and the rest of the group were permitted to veto any ideas and suggestions put forward by Feige, even though he was the president of the entire studio. In fact, things got so contentious that the bold Ike even tried to have the creator of history’s most successful film and television property fired before Disney CEO Bob Iger stepped in to save his bacon.
With that in mind, many jigs of celebration were danced when it was revealed that Perlmutter had been one of the most high-profile layoffs during the Mouse House’s recent burst of internal cost-cutting, or so we thought. In a surprisingly honest confession to The Wall Street Journal, though, he admitted that he was actually fired for clashing with the top brass.
“I have no doubt that my termination was based on fundamental differences in business between my thinking and Disney leadership, because I care about return on investment. All they talk about is box office, box office. I care about the bottom line. I don’t care how big the box office is. Only people in Hollywood talk about box office. It was merely a convenient excuse to get rid of a longtime executive who dared to challenge the company’s way of doing business.”
Fired or let go, the real winners at the end of the day are Marvel fans and Feige in particular, with another obstacle being cleared now that the shadow of Perlmutter no longer looms in the background, even if his influence over the MCU had already been greatly diminished.
