Bob Iger is the man in charge of what is easily the biggest force in the entire film and TV industry. Hell, his company, Disney, is probably the most influential studio in all of pop culture. So, when Iger pens a memoir, you have to imagine there are plenty of interesting anecdotes that he’s going to share about his time running the Mouse House. And in his new book, Iger not only dishes on all aspects of his time as the leader of Disney, but he also talks about how the history of Marvel could have been drastically different if some other suits had their way.
You see, a decade ago, Disney purchased the struggling Marvel for a large sum of cash. At the time, people were worried that the Mouse House was making a foolish purchase. In fact, according to Iger, then CEO Michael Eisner was told by numerous people to not make the deal for the comic book company at all.
The Disney CEO said (via CNet), “Early in my time working for Michael, I attended a staff lunch in which he floated the idea of acquiring [Marvel]; a handful of executives around the table objected.”
“’Marvel was too edgy,’ they said,” he added. “‘It would tarnish the Disney brand.’ There was an assumption at the time — internally, and among members of the board — that Disney was a single, monolithic brand, and all of our businesses existed beneath the Disney umbrella. I sensed Michael knew better, but any negative reaction to the brand, or suggestion that it wasn’t being managed well, he took personally.”
Of course, we know what happened next. Disney ended up purchasing Marvel (the entire company, not just the film rights) for $4 billion back in 2009. If you offered that to any studio at the time, there might not have been very many takers. Now, a decade later, with two dozen films and $22.6 billion in box office receipts alone (not including the toy revenue, DVD/Blu-ray sales, and everything else associated with the brand), $4 billion is perhaps the best investment Disney has ever made.
But it wasn’t always easy going for Iger during his tenure as Disney boss. There was a time when the CEO wanted to move forward with more diverse Marvel properties, including a film based on “Black Panther” and another featuring a female lead, “Captain Marvel.” The CEO reveals that Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige was blocked numerous times by Marvel CEO Ike Perlmutter from pursuing those films because of the fear that the characters wouldn’t lead to box office gold.
Iger finally stepped in and made sure that the films happened.
“I called Ike and told him to tell his team to stop putting up roadblocks,” Iger wrote (via Bloomberg).
And of course, box office aside, the Disney CEO is pleased that the studio went forward with those films. In the case of “Black Panther,” he’s actually so proud of the film that he names that as the crown jewel project that the Mouse House has released under his tenure.
“There may be no product we’ve ever created that I’m more proud of than ‘Black Panther,’” he explained (via CinemaBlend).
It’s incredible how these sorts of business decisions, the ones that end up resulting in billion-dollar grosses and incredible profits, get made through quick phone calls and meetings. And it’s interesting how the course of Marvel history was almost completely halted due to some worries that Iron Man and Captain American might hurt Mickey Mouse’s brand.
But hey, that’s Hollywood, right?