Why Iger Needs a New Approach to Marvel Output

Disney CEO Bob Iger didnt mince words Thursday at Morgan Stanleys Technology, Media Telecom Conference when it came to addressing former CEO Bob Chapeks reorganization in 2020.

Iger highlighted what he viewed as a disconnect while discussing Disneys streaming business, saying that while the service grew due to the strength of the content, there needs to be a stronger link between whats being spent and whats being earned from a revenue perspective.

Marvel and Lucasfilm deserve a lot of credit for the success of Disney+, but the cost of contentfor the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Star Wars has been a big contributor to Disneys direct-to-consumerlosses. Examine the track records of these two brands, and theres a clear difference Iger needs to appreciate.

Since the release of the first Avengers film in 2012, which earned $1.5 billion globally, seven additional MCU films distributed by Disney were billion-dollar grossers, with 2019s Avengers: Endgame the No. 2 worldwide grosser in history.

Endgame was also the last MCU film from Disney to surpass $1 billion. Since the pandemic, the only MCU film to become a billion-dollar grosser was Sonys Spider-Man: No Way Home, which took in nearly $2 billion, a big jump from the $1.1 billion 2019s Spider-Man: Far From Home grossed after Endgame.

Only four of Disneys Star Wars films hit that mark. But thats out of five total, as opposed to the 23 MCU films Disney has released.

Even with mixed reviews, 2019s The Rise of Skywalker still brought in almost $1.1 billion, slightly more than Rogue One, one of two standalone films separate from the new trilogy, did in 2016.

Solo, the other lone film, made less than $400 million globally in 2018.

Maybe the cadence was a little too aggressive, said Iger on Solo while discussing the care Disney needs to exercise in its content spend.

Still, Star Wars transitioned mediums successfully after The Rise of Skywalker, with four series having since debuted on Disney+. Flagship series The Mandalorian and Rogue One prequel series Andor are the standouts out of four live-action series in total that have streamed, the former having just premiered its third season. Unlike The Book of Boba Fett and Obi-Wan Kenobi, Andor has another season in the works.

By contrast, Disney+ has seen seven live-action MCU series debut since 2021, with the eighth, Secret Invasion, due in 2023. Only one series, Loki, has a second season on the way. Just as many MCU films have played in theaters during this period, as opposed to zero Star Wars films.

Given that a core function of the MCUs highest-grossing films is sticking a ton of different heroes together at once, to the delight of fans, Iger is right to be critical of the number of shows devoted to Marvel characters, nearly all of them supporting cast for the bigger heroes in the films.

As Iger put it Thursday, he is scrutinizing how often we go back to the well with certain characters and how many sequels each franchise truly needs.

Now that Avatar is back, with the first of four new sequels having done far better at the global box office than Disneys best MCU film post-pandemic, its high time for Disney to figure out a more practical and monetizable model for Marvel.