Nelson Peltz Says Marvel Has Gone “Woke”
With the proxy battle between Nelson Peltz and The Walt Disney Company set to draw to a close on April 3, the activist investor is making one last push to get shareholder support.
In a recent interview with the Financial Times, Peltz accused Marvel Studios of going “woke” in a move that is clearly pandering to the anti-Disney crowd.
Petlz Questions ‘The Marvels’ and ‘Black Panther’
In the interview, Peltz questioned the cast makeup of recent Marvel releases, including The Marvels and the Black Panther franchise.
“Why do I have to have a Marvel [movie] that’s all women?” Peltz asked rhetorically. “Not that I have anything against women, but why do I have to do that? Why can’t I have Marvels that are both? Why do I need an all-Black cast?”
While Marvel being “woke” has been a constant refrain from critics, especially as the studio has struggled lately, Peltz’s comments make little sense.
The Marvels did not have an “all-female” cast, just as Black Panther was not performed by an all-Black cast. More importantly, Black Panther has been one of Marvel’s biggest successes.
Peltz is Parroting Perlmutter
In reality, Peltz’s opinions on Marvel’s output likely come from the President of Marvel, Ike Perlmutter. Trian currently controls $3.5 billion worth of Disney stock, 79% of which is owned by Perlmutter.
Last year, Perlmutter was fired by Disney after clashing with Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige. Specifically, Perlmutter was against making Black Panther and Captain Marvel. He was eventually overruled by Iger.
The tension between Perlmuter and Feige was laid out in Bob Iger’s 2019 memoir The Ride of a Lifetime.
“We had a chance to make a great movie and to showcase an underrepresented segment of America, and those goals were not mutually exclusive,” Iger wrote. “I called Ike and told him to tell his team to stop putting up roadblocks and ordered that we put both ‘Black Panther’ and ‘Captain Marvel’ into production.”
Does Peltz Think Feige Should Be Fired?
When Peltz was asked whether or not Feige should be removed as president of Marvel Studios, he was noncommittal.
“I’m not ready to say that, but I question his record,” he answered.
With less than two weeks until Disney’s annual meeting, both Petlz and Disney are making their final pitches to shareholders. This is almost certainly not the last we have heard of the activist investor.
Thanks for visiting MickeyBlog.com! Want to go to Disney? For a FREE quote on your next Disney vacation, please fill out the form below and one of the agents from MickeyTravels, a Diamond level Authorized Disney Vacation Planner, will be in touch soon! Also, thanks for reading!