It’s not really news to say that Disney CEO Bob Iger is going to be a bit more hands-on with Marvel Studios in the future. The executive has made several comments in the past about reducing the number of projects the studio releases, as well as making sure the films and TV series that are released are of the best quality. But up to now, that’s all soundbites and rhetoric. We don’t know exactly what that means. During a recent earnings call (via THR), the Disney CEO expanded a bit on what it means for Marvel and broke down exactly what fans can expect with these changes.
He started by saying that he has been working with the film side of Disney to “reduce output and focus more on quality.” Iger referenced the superhero wing of the megacorporation when he said, “…that’s particularly true with Marvel.”
Again, what does “reduce output” really mean? Well, according to the executive, we’re looking at a world where Marvel doesn’t release more than three films a year and probably no more than two series. That’s a big reduction from the massive plans that Marvel President Kevin Feige announced, which featured up to four films a year and at least three series.
“We’re slowly going to decrease volume and go to probably about two TV series a year instead of what had become four, and reduce our film output from maybe four a year to two or at the maximum three,” Iger explained. “And we’re working hard on what that path is, we’ve got a couple of good films in ’25 and then we’re heading to more ‘Avengers,’ which we’re extremely excited about.”
He added, “Overall I feel great about the slate, it’s something that I’ve committed to spending more and more time on, the team is one that I have tremendous confidence in and the IP that we’re mining, including all the sequels that we’re doing is second to none.”
Obviously, if Marvel Studios is only releasing three films and two series per year, that’s going to mean some cuts have to be made. Just on the TV side alone, there are a number of series that are either done with production or are still working, such as “Daredevil: Born Again,” “Agatha: Coven of Chaos,” “Ironheart,” and “Wonder Man.” Are we looking at a world where something like “Wonder Man” is pushed to 2026? Maybe.
Regardless of what this means for specific titles, there aren’t many people out there who would disagree with Iger’s assessment of the situation. It does feel like Marvel Studios got too big and was releasing too much stuff. Of course, let’s not forget that it was Iger who was pushing for his big franchises to release projects for Disney+, which led to Marvel and Lucasfilm, in particular, to start producing a lot of TV series. Alas, it seems as if that’s not going to be the case anymore.