The recent turn of events is shocking and startling not just to us but to everyone at the MCU too, it feels like the franchise is catching up to its contemporary DCU. MCU’s decision to fire its only Latina, LGBTQ Victoria Alonso who is also the VFX President at the franchise has taken everyone by surprise including the President herself.
The VFX president who has worked alongside Kevin Feige for the past 17 years building the franchise was fired, her employees and herself included were blindsided by this. The meeting reportedly included the top brass at Disney, lawyers, other VFX executives, and Human Resources. After her exit on 17 March 2023 reports of speculation have flooded the internet, and no one is willing to provide a reason for her sudden exit.
Jeff Sneider reports that it is related to her allegiance to LGBTQ
Among various rumors, Sneider reported on The Hot Mic podcast that initially when he heard about the exit and talked around the industry he came to certain conclusions. Jeff Sneider spilled,
“the first thing that my sources wanted to say was that this has absolutely nothing to do with her being outspoken against Bob Chappick okay being outspoken for LGBTQ rights”
He also conspired that she continued to push for more inclusion and with Disney losing its tax rights in Florida it must have pushed Bog Iger to take the plunge. It is a lot of money, and Disney was already in talks about cutting costs. The firing and accusations that followed her exit will bring bad press to Marvel, especially the struggles of VFX workers have come to mass attention with Alonso’s exit. It will further the conversation hopefully in a direction where VFX artists are given normal hours of work and treated with basic dignity and respect for their work.
Jeff Sneider takes a dig at Marvel and its VFX
Jeff Sneider also commented on recent reports that throw light on accusations against Alonso. These accusations are mainly focused on how she created a toxic work environment, especially for the external public.
“I what I think is that. I’m told that some people cheered her exit and some people were devastated by her exit I think that she was liked internally at Marvel yeah externally she was not well-liked, by externally I mean by the vendors by all the VFX companies”
These are in context to a Tweet shared by Chris Lee, who is a senior reporter at Vulture writes on the toxic workplace created by Alonso, as she played favorites all the time.
SO many VFX sources have told me Victoria Alonso was singularly responsible for Marvel's toxic work environment: a kingmaker who rewarded unquestioning fealty with an avalanche of work, but who also maintained the blacklist that kept FX pros wild eyed with fear
— Chris Lee (@__ChrisLee) March 20, 2023
Along with the tweets many have come out nullifying these claims and even Sneider did not seem to care much for these accusations. They boil down to the fact that Alonso worked with people she liked and got along with, it is not something illegal or inherently wrong. Her position of power makes her answerable to these questions. Currently, there is no comment from her or Marvel and Disney about her exit.
Source: YouTube
