Bob Iger Says Marvel To Stop Shoving Movies And TV Shows Down Your Throat

It was exciting when Marvel Studios started making all of their movies connected. It felt like the comic books they were based on. Threads were carried over from one story to another, culminating in bigger “event” movies. If you have seen all of their films, it makes the event movies more special. Slowly but surely, the movies (and eventually TV shows) faced the same issue the comics often do. There’s too much stuff.

This problem became more prevalent with the addition of Marvel TV shows on Disney+. Marvel had dipped their toe into TV already but shows like Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Daredevil were less connected than initially promised. There would be some shared threads, but the universes felt rarely separate. Then, shows like Wandavision, The Falcon And The Winter Soldier, and Loki were introduced, and what felt like a fun idea became homework.

Someone who noticed this problem was Bob Iger. Iger addressed this issue on an earnings call, promising to shrink Disney’s Marvel output. “We’re slowly going to decrease volume and go to probably about two TV series a year instead of what had become four and reduce our film output from maybe four a year to two, or a maximum of three,” the Disney CEO told investors. “And we’re working hard on what that path is.”

Iger made sure to paint this as a good thing and not a retreat of sorts. He feels positive about Marvel’s future, despite it being shuffled around after removing Jonathan Majors as its next major villain. When discussing the MCU’s upcoming slate, Iger said they have “a couple of good films in ‘25, and then we’re heading to more ‘Avengers,’ which we’re extremely excited about.” He continued, saying “Overall, I feel great about the slate. It’s something that I’ve committed to spending more and more time on. The team is one that I have tremendous confidence in and the IP that we’re mining, including all the sequels that we’re doing, is second to none.”

While addressing Marvel’s bloat is a positive development, it’s hard not to wonder if this is more fallout from the WGA and SAG strikes. People like Iger would often threaten that fewer things could/would be made if the unions got what they wanted. It was a bull**** tactic used to scare people from wanting a living wage. Now, people in Iger’s position may be making good on those threats to continue paying themselves absurd amounts of money.

Just because he isn’t saying the quiet part out loud, doesn’t mean he isn’t slashing output to line the pockets of him and his investors. Marvel should take a step back, but that hardly seemed like the goal just last year. Years from now, when the fallout from the strikes is easier to analyze, this may be seen as a turning point.