Disney Exec Was “Blindsided” By Firing, But She Repeatedly Violated Her Contract

For 17 years, Victoria Alonso was one of the most prominent faces at Marvel Studios. She started out with the company in 2006 as the Chief of Visual Effects and Post-Production. Alonso worked hard and became one of the key forces behind the Marvel Cinematic Universe that we know today. The Walt Disney Company purchased Marvel Studios in 2009, and Alonso became a part of the Disney family. In the nearly 14 years that Disney has owned Marvel, the superhero studio has been one of the company’s biggest moneymakers.

That is why it was shocking to hear on March 20, that Alonso had been fired from her executive position at Marvel. At first, it was not known that Alonso had been fired. All that was said was that the executive and the company had “parted ways.” We are now learning that Alonso was fired, something by which she was reportedly blindsided. However, according to sources who spoke exclusively with The Hollywood Reporter, Alonso had repeatedly violated her contract by working on the Oscar-nominated film Argentina, 1985.

Per The Hollywood Reporter:

Alonso was one of eight producers on the Argentine historical drama, which was distributed by Amazon. However, by doing so, she breached her contract, several times, according to sources. After repeated warnings, the situation came to a head the week after the Oscars and ultimately led to her termination. It was a seismic shake-up at Marvel, where for years Alonso was part of the holy trinity — along with Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige and co-president Louis D’Esposito — who led the Marvel Cinematic Universe to ever-greater heights.

According to insiders, Alonso breached a 2018 agreement that saw her violate the company’s standards of business conduct that stated employees would not work for competing studios.

Sources say that Alonso did not ask permission to work on Argentina, 1985, nor did she give notice. (However, an IndieWire piecepublished last month on the film stated that she did have permission.) When Disney found out about the project and the violation, her longtime service and veteran status led the company to give her a dispensation on the condition she would not work on the movie further. She was to also not to promote it or publicize it in any way. The situation of a top executive working on a movie outside company confines was deemed serious enough to involve the management audit team and a new memo was signed, according to an insider.

The sources who spoke to The Hollywood Reporter said that Alonso’s contract said that she was not allowed to work with competing studios. Alonso apparently did not ask permission to work on the film, which was produced by Amazon Studios. The sources said that Disney and Marvel reminded Alonso multiple times that she was not allowed to make appearances and promote the film. However, those warnings went unheeded.

Amazon Studios is quickly becoming one of Disney’s biggest competitors. Amazon is ramping up its streaming game, and also plans on investing billions of dollars into making more theatrical releases.

In addition to willfully violating her contract, Alonso was also one of the key players behind Marvel’s newest film, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, which tanked at the box office. The film is Marvel’s worst-performing movie to date. That most likely did not help her case when it came to her firing.

Ms. Alonso has not commented or released a statement on her firing.