Now laid off, ex-Marvel chairman Isaac Perlmutter claimed that he was not attempting to get Kevin Feige fired in 2015.
As perhaps most Marvel fans will be aware, Ike Perlmutter was recently let go from The Walt Disney Corporation during the first round of its much-publicized layoffs.
Perlmutter was something of a thorn in Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige’s side up until 2015 when the tension between the two reached a boiling point. Feige went to Disney CEO Bob Iger, who then stepped in and partitioned off Marvel Studios’ business from the rest of the company and away from Perlmutter.
Now, Perlmutter attempted to alleviate some of the past blame which had been placed upon him.
Perlmutter Claims Innocence in 2015 Marvel Clash
According to a piece by The Wall Street Journal, former Marvel Entertainment head Isaac “Ike” Perlmutter denied any intention of trying to get Kevin Feige fired from the company. He also described their blowout as a disagreement over budgeting.
Additionally, the ex-chairman stated that he received profit-and-loss statements for every film Marvel Studios produced before having his access to such reports cut off in 2021. He was largely critical of the amounts being spent on these productions.
Despite previously being denied access to Marvel’s financials, Perlmutter still requested to see the studio’s statements on Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’ profitability. He also complained to then-Disney CEO Bob Chapek that Feige’s team’s spending was out of control. Chepek concurred with Perlmutter but was unable to modify already locked-in spending plans.
On this matter, Ike Perlmutter has been quoted as saying, “There was no way to force the issue because the creative people at the Walt Disney Company are very powerful.”
Kevin Feige vs Ike Perlmutter Explained
Marvel Studios was in a different place in the mid-2010s. It was responsible for one of the highest-grossing movies of all time (2012’s The Avengers) but it was also at the mercy of the Marvel Creative Committee which kneecapped many of the choices made by directors and producers on their MCU films.
Furthermore, Feige and crew were firmly under the thumb of Perlmutter, a notoriously… frugal man. (Insiders have noted that he would insist on getting more use out of memo pads by ripping them up into smaller pieces.)
Perlmutter was also highly resistant to green-lighting Black Panther and Captain Marvel, arguing that movies starring Black people and women wouldn’t be profitable. Both films went on to gross over a billion dollars each.
So, after a certain point, Kevin Feige decided enough was enough and went over Perlmutter’s head and straight to Bob Iger, who, in response, restructured Marvel Studios so that Feige reported directly to Disney Studios head Alan Horn, relegating Perlmutter to control of Marvel’s TV division.
Then, a few years later, Perlmutter’s remaining power over Marvel’s creative output was stripped away entirely, when Feige was named Chief Creative Officer of the entire company, including its publishing arm.
It seems that Isaac Perlmutter was left to merely spin his wheels with his influence effectively neutralized and his title, “Chairman of Marvel Entertainment” being a pointless honorific.
As mentioned above, Perlmutter has been laid off from his position with Marvel and Disney, leaving the 80-year-old to presumably collect all of his millions of dollars into a giant bin and keep it all to himself, Scrooge McDuck style.
