Nelson Peltz Fumbles his Disney Proxy War with Marvel Comments
One side of the Disney proxy war just stepped on a landmine he laid himself. Nelson Peltz, the investor trying to get a seat on the Disney board, gave an interview to the Financial Times (which is behind a particularly hefty paywall, but Variety has the details) where he questioned movies like The Marvels and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and their “diverse” casts.
“Why do I have to have a Marvel [movie] that’s all women?… 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?”
Of course, the Variety piece says obtuse things like “‘Black Panther’ does not have an all-[black] cast, nor does ‘The Marvels’ have an all-female cast,” as if they don’t know what he’s talking about. And you can search “The Marvels,” which is trending on X, and read a bunch of people doing much the same. But he’s referring to two movies that underperformed; Wakanda Forever made a profit, but it was nowhere near the success its predecessor was. And, of course, Peltz is being overly simplistic; The Marvels didn’t fail because the leads were all women, and Wakanda Forever didn’t underperform because the cast was mostly black. But The Marvels was sold as a girl-power movie, and the Marvel brand had morphed from one of popular entertainment to one focused on social activism and representation. You can see the way they speak at premieres, like the now-fired Victoria Alonso harping on diversity and representation or Haaz Sleiman saying Eternals would save lives because there were gay characters in it. Things like that make casting women or racial minorities in the lead roles feel less like organic storytelling choices (which they are for a Black Panther movie) and more like a forced message, and that’s no fun.
Beyond what he was getting at, Peltz was stupid for saying this and phrasing it the way he did. He just handed Bob Iger all the ammunition he needs to turn investors against him. Look at Variety casting Peltz as the activist and Iger as the guy who just wants to entertain; anyone who’s paid attention knows that’s not true, but it looks that way now because Iger understands how to keep up appearances when he speaks, and, it appears, Peltz doesn’t. Peltz is also lending credence to George Lucas’ comments about him being an “amateur;” he looks like a dimwit now, while Iger looks like a serious businessman. This is something I talked about when Kevin Feige spoke to Entertainment Tonight at the premiere of The Marvels; Feige knew exactly how to behave with the press, how to answer questions in a way where he only revealed what he wanted to and came off as savvy and amiable. It’s the difference between guys like Feige and Iger and the loudmouth stars of these movies who don’t know how to make themselves look good. I guess we can add Nelson Peltz to their ranks, and we can forget the idea that this guy is going to save Disney, or at least help it turn around a little.
