Nelson Peltz, the activist investor agitating to win two Disney board seats, criticized the company’s “woke” strategy — specifically questioning Marvel’s “Black Panther” and “The Marvels,” which featured Black and women leads, respectively.
The 81-year-old Peltz, who has admitted he “never claimed” to have experience in the media business, made the comments about “The Marvels” and “Black Panther” in a recent interview with the Financial Times. “Why do I have to have a Marvel [movie] that’s all women?” Peltz asked rhetorically. “Not that I have anything against women, but why do I have to do that? Why can’t I have Marvels that are both? Why do I need an all-Black cast?”
“Black Panther” does not have an all-Black cast, nor does “The Marvels” have an all-female cast.
It’s been hit or miss, much like the Infinity Saga. The difference is saturation. They’ve made too many films and shows too quickly, and the bad ones lend credence to the complaints of bigots.
When bigots complained that Heimdall the White was portrayed by Idris Elba, they were told to shut the fuck up because the movie was good and Elba was great in it. When bigots complained that Black Panther would include a lesbian relationship, the studio cut the scenes and scrapped the storyline. The Ancient One, the Mandarin, Jeri Hogarth, black Dark Elves, Zendaya as MJ, all the way up to the first gay man in Endgame, people are always going to find something to be mad about. Motherfuckers complained when Samuel L. Jackson was cast as Nick Fury, and when the comics followed suit, the collective bunching of panties could have jump-started a nuclear reactor.
The only thing that matters is whether the movies are good or not. Some have been good, others have not. That was true before Endgame, and has continued to be true.