Today Marvel Cinematic Universe is at the peak of the success of the cinematic success of superhero movies, thanks to diversity and inclusion. However, it was not always the case, earlier reports stated that Avengers were almost all-white.
The executive decision to feature all-white superheroes in the elite group of MCU called the Avengers would seriously restrict the boundaries of the MCU itself. There is no doubt about the fact that the expansion of the group with new heroes like Black Panther has diversified the essence of the timeline altogether.
Also read: “Doesn’t Want to Oversee the Entire Shoot”: Kevin Feige Will Be Less Involved in Phase 5 Marvel Movies Despite the Recent Box Office Disasters
Marvel CEO Emphasized More on All-White Avengers
MCU’s first ever Avenger movie The Avengers released in 2012 certainly set the parameters of white superhero dominance. Of course, Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury had a huge part but he was no superhero. Disney CEO Bob Iger once revealed that Marvel CEO Ike Perlmutter set some roadblocks for movies like Black Panther and Captain Marvel, in fact, he didn’t want it to happen.
Thankfully, Iger did good wrestling for the greenlight for these movies. Also, both movies have marked the height of success each grossing over $1 billion at the global box office, it was marvelous indeed.
Up until 2015, Marvel Studios wasn’t separate from Marvel Entertainment, it was not good for the creative freedom of Kevin Feige. Fortunately, Disney favored Feige and separated the two entities so the Marvel President to have full creative control. Feige jumped right into the expansion and planned for Black Panther and Captain Marvel.
Particularly Against Black Panther
In his memoir, The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons Learned from 15 Years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company, Iger revealed candidly how he had to overcome roadblocks for, in particular, Black Panther. While Feige was all in for the Wakanda movie, the supreme executives from the Marvel Studios didn’t want to produce it fearing that black superheroes would underperform at the box office globally. Iger contradicted the musty notion and walked the line with Feige to create the hit franchise advocating diversity.
“I’ve been in the business long enough to have heard every old argument in the book, and I’ve learned that old arguments are just that: old, and out of step with where the world is and where it should be. We had a chance to make a great movie and to showcase an underrepresented segment of America, and those goals were not mutually exclusive. I called Ike and told him to tell his team to stop putting up roadblocks and ordered that we put both Black Panther and Captain Marvel into production,” Iger wrote in his book (via ScreenRant).
In other reports at the time, Perlmutter even resisted Black Widow to enter into the school of Avengers. He firmly believed that Avengers should be all-men in their 30s which would accelerate the sales of the toys based on these characters.
