Why Marvel Went Woke
This is from a source supposedly inside Marvel Studios and on the face of it, it would appear to be legitimate. According to this source, I’ve been right on some things but wrong on others.
In a nutshell, Marvel’s original business plan was to reach saturation in the West. Which it did, mission accomplished.
The next phase of their business plan was to saturate the China market. This was why Shang-Chi was produced. Disney was totally on board with this strategy and went all out with Mulan.
That plan went completely off the rails. And they knew that trainwreck was coming for longer than I thought they did. It was one of the reasons for Bob Iger’s “retirement.” There was a big change in policy in Beijing. The fact that the biggest movies in China were foreign had become a matter of face. Your average Han in the street could see one foreign movie without his social credit score being dinged but you didn’t want to risk more than that. But the big Marvel movies were banned outright.
The China market is closed to Marvel.
So, Marvel needed to explore new avenues for growth. They decided to do that in the West by (according to the source) going out of their way to appeal to demographics that Marvel has never moved the needle on before.
The claim is that this was not meant to be deliberately political. But the content is political by its nature.
Note: I honestly can’t agree with that. You only have to look at any of Victoria Alonso’s statements and you know that she is a true believer.
Regardless, that is the supposed reason that Marvel went Big Woke.
The question then becomes, why did they do that at risk of losing existing market share?
Answer: Marvel has gone through a mental process that has allowed them to come to a conclusion that the whites and the Christians will stick with Marvel during this transition. Marvel has been owned by Disney for a while and expanded a lot using Disney-trained personnel. Trust me when I say that I know this attitude of, ‘we can abuse our loyal customers at will and they will stay loyal to us,’ is very, very Disney.
The thing is, a temporary dip in the polls during the Florida Anti-Groomer bill was to be expected. But a downhill trend is still underway months later. Disney now has a noticeable problem with whites and Christians, and it isn’t getting better with time like it used to.
According to the source, a lot of people at Marvel are getting very worried about this trend at their own subsidiary as well. The Marvel guys in charge of merchandising are in a panic because nothing is moving and nothing has moved for a while. They are afraid, with good reason that they are on the Star Wars downhill track. Marvel Films still has a major degree of creative independence. Pixar and Lucasfilm have little at this point.
Now, you may be wondering, if Pixar and LucasFilm are locked down by Disney, why do they still have Woke trash on the schedule?
Answer: Because Chapek has seen the financial models for the aforementioned Woke trash and thinks they are sound. That this is indeed the new market to break into. And yes, he also believes the whites and Christians will come running back the first time a few memberberries get scattered on the ground.
I’ve told you repeatedly he’s not a good man.
You have also heard from me and others that Chapak and Kevin Feige don’t get along, and we are right. So, why isn’t Chapek coming down hard on Marvel? Several reasons. First and foremost, Marvel, while on a downhill track is still pulling in some big money. Second, Feige can play the game.
One of the producers on Thor: Love and Thunder is named Brian Chapek (Big Bob’s son) and no, he’s not an in-name-only producer. He’s on the set every day. And he is allegedly very bad at his job, he’s been drastically overpromoted by Kevin Feige, who is keeping Little Chapek tucked under his wing very protectively. In the last Thor movie, Baby Thor was played by Bob Chapek’s brand new grandson, which made Grandpa Big Bob very happy indeed.
Kevin Feige isn’t stupid.
However, he is arrogant. He has no intention of changing course no matter what the numbers are saying because he isn’t satisfied with being the best IP manager in Hollywood. No, he wants to be a legendary creative as well. And changing course on Marvel will be an admission of creative failure.
Also, he’s not a creative.
He’s just not.
Okay, I’m done here.
