Cover by Jim Lee
Credit – Marvel Comics
The men in ‘X-Men’ is problematic and are not inclusive enough. At least that’s what the new president of physical and post-production visual effects over at Marvel Studios thinks. Victoria Alonso, who was previously the executive Vice President of production at Marvel Studios, believes the name X-Men is outdated and not inclusive enough because there are women in the X-Men as well. A 15 year veteran at Marvel Studios, Alonso has been an executive producer on all of the MCU movies since Iron Man. Alonso has a lot of experience at the MCU and has clearly been instrumental in the changes that have been happening to all of Marvels established characters over the last decade. This has been something that hasn’t happened by accident and has been executed purposefully by both Alonso and Kevin Feige. It has also been done to the detriment of the fans who have been loyal since the MCU’s first inception but now have buyers remorse.
Women Are Under Represented at Marvel Studios
Victoria Alonso has made it clear, on more than one occasion, that she feels the MCU and Marvel Studios are under represented in the female department and that that has to change. In an article from The Hollywood Reporter back in 2016, Alonso indicated that Marvel Studios was making a balanced changed towards equality in the work place and that she shouldn’t be the only woman in the room and that it should be 50/50.
“We have had gender inequality for some time. It wasn’t always talked about …. In the past year, it bubbled up and it’s no longer acceptable to women and some men. Change is needed and hopefully we can make a balanced Hollywood for the next generation. I don’t want to be the only [woman] in the room. Our rooms should be 50/50. If any of you — men or women — can lift [women] up, we’ll all be better for it. To the men at the luncheon, You are important change makers. When you wonderful men say ‘balance is necessary’…you open that door and the product is going to be better [with varied perspectives].”
Okay, but to hire based on gender rather than being qualified is not the answer either. We should be hiring people based on their talent and not because they are a woman or a man. This is how you get a bad quality product. ‘Captain Marvel’ is Alonso’s stated legacy that she wants to leave her daughter. Case in point…’Nuff said. Marvel has stated on more than one occasion that they were going to hire women to fill the roles of director, writer, etc…before they even started writing or producing a project. ‘Jessica Jones’ season two is a perfect example in which the show runner said that every episode would be directed by female directors. Season two was two years away when she said this. Marvel is really the poster child for screaming that they are the most “woke”.
LGBTQ Representation is Key to Marvels Success…(I Really Don’t Mean That)
In an interview with Variety’s Mark Malkin, Alonso promised more LGBTQ representation in the MCU, but that it was a process and would take time to get there.
“It takes time, we have so many stories that we can tell. We will empower those that are. We’re not changing anything. We’re just showing the world who these people are, who these characters are…There’s a lot that we have coming up that I think will be representative of the world of today. We’re not going to nail it in the first movie or the second movie or third movie, or the first show or second show, but we will do our best to consistently try to represent.”
Alonso admits they aren’t changing anything and are showing these characters who they truly are. That’s an outright lie. Marvel Studios is fundamentally changing who these characters were when they were established. Alonso and Marvel Studios are purposefully changing these characters to sway the fans attention on who and what they originally were, and they are doing it to appease a very insignificant portion of the audience. Both reasons are nefarious and the biggest problem with how our entertainment is produced. Alonso continues the lie further in the interview when she states that marvel Studios follows the comic books to the tee.
Alonso said that the decision to make Loki, played by Tom Hiddleston, fluid wasn’t as complicated as one might think. “I have to be honest with you, it’s not a big deal, it is what it is when it suits the character. We’re not going to do it because it’s politically correct or incorrect. It is what it is. Don’t forget, we follow our comics. We try to follow them quite to the tee. So in the comics this is who he was.”
Another bald faced lie. Loki was never “gender fluid”. Did he sometimes transform into a woman to deceive the hero…of course, but he never had same sex relationships, was bi-sexual, pan-sexual, or what have you. He was created as the god of mischief and was a man right up until the point the MCU decided it didn’t fit their narrative and so decided to change that. It would be a different thing if Victoria Alonso and Kevin Feige just came out and said “you know what…we are going to do things our way and change some of the established canon that the fans have grown up with in the comics…let us know what you think.” That at least would be honest and the fans would probably appreciate that and treat the MCU as its own thing, rather than Feige and Alonso consistently spitting in the fans’ faces because they are trying to represent a fake reality outside a fake window.
Try Changing X-Men to X-People and See What Happens
Finally, Victoria Alonso’s statement that the term X-Men is outdated is ignorant. Saying mankind, policemen, firemen, etc are terms meant to include both men and women. Man in mankind represents the human species as a whole and not secluded to one gender or the other and has been established for centuries. If you’ve ever read an X-Men comic book, you will see that the X-Men have been lead by many of the women in X-Men from Jean Grey, Storm, and Kitty pride, to Rogue, Emma Frost, and Psylocke. And, the X-Men are probably one of the most represented comic book teams out there. So, this isn’t about representation, this is about power and control and changing the narrative to say that men are evil and shouldn’t control anything.
Marvel’s Box Office Success is Waning
Marvel Studios has had two movies come out this year with two more on the way. Both have failed at the box office to make a profit with ‘Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings’ probably the closest to that profit margin. With the ‘Eternals’ and ‘Spiderman: No Way Home’ coming out in another month or so, Disney and Marvel might just be 0 for 4. Spider-Man might make a profit but that will be because it’s a Sony property that Marvel will share the rights to…so it will be a half hearted victory at best. Disney and Bob Chapek will soon find that Star Wars isn’t the only franchise losing money for them. If Marvel, Kevin Feige, and Victoria Alonso continue down the identity politic road and make representation their single most important narrative, Disney shares might continue to lose value and Bob Chapek will have two of the biggest franchises ever, be Disney’s two biggest disappointments ever.
Related: The MCU is a Clown Show
