At Comic-Con, I overheard a heated discussion between a former Marvel executive and a prominent Hollywood VFX artist.
The two were in full agreement: the blame for the MCU’s current problems lies squarely with Disney—not the creatives or execs that were already at Marvel.
While I didn’t catch every detail, they were pretty livid about Disney ruining the MCU, and the takeaway was clear: that they backed James Gunn’s recent comments that Disney corporate is to blame for the issues with the MCU.
Gunn Blames Disney for Marvel’s Decline
In a recent Rolling Stone interview, James Gunn addressed the decline of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and didn’t hold back. He said Disney’s push for more content—especially during the streaming boom—stretched Marvel beyond its limits.
“And [longtime Marvel executive producer] Louis [D’Esposito] said that privately to me… That wasn’t fair. It wasn’t right. And it killed them,” said Gunn.
Rolling Stone noted that Marvel insiders have acknowledged the misstep, with too many movies and shows pushed out in too short a time.
Gunn Clarifies: They Were Screwed by the System
After fans reacted to his “killed them” comment, Gunn clarified on Threads that he didn’t mean Marvel was finished, just that the system they were caught in was broken.
“The sacrifice-everything-for-streaming craze killed many good things by forcing a demand for ‘content’ that couldn’t possibly be met,” said Gunn.
Gunn said Marvel is now on the other side of that phase, but the damage was done.
DC Will Avoid the Same Mistakes
Gunn made it clear that the new DC Studios won’t repeat Marvel’s mistakes. He said there’s no quota to fill, and that every movie and show must earn its place.
“We don’t have the mandate to have a certain amount of movies and TV shows every year… Everything we put out will be what we think is of the highest quality,” he said.
He added that nothing gets made unless he’s personally satisfied with the script.
“Nothing goes before there’s a screenplay that I personally am happy with,” said Gunn.
Disney Slashes Marvel Budgets, Pulls Back on Content
Kevin Feige and Disney CEO Bob Iger have both confirmed that Marvel is pulling back on content.
Feige recently stated that future MCU Disney+ shows won’t directly connect to the movies, and vice versa.
On top of that, Disney has slashed the budgets for its Marvel streaming series following the big failures of shows like Secret Invasion, She-Hulk, and Ms. Marvel.
Feige recently blamed the failure of The Marvels on fans not watching Ms. Marvel.
