Disney Shocker! Prominent Executive Exits After 17 Years!

During his first 15 years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company, Bob Iger brought the company to the top of the entertainment industry through a number of smart purchases. In 2006, Disney purchased Pixar Animation Studios and the pair has since gone on to create some of the most memorable movies of all time, including UP, Inside Out, and Coco. Then, in 2009, Disney purchased Marvel, which is now one of the company’s biggest moneymakers. Then, in 2012, Iger brought Star Wars fully into the Disney family with his purchase of LucasFilm.

In 2012, Marvel Studios released its first movie under the Disney banner — The Avengers. The film starred names that are now some of the biggest in Hollywood — Chris Evans as Captain America, AKA Steve Rogers, Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man, AKA Tony Stark, Mark Ruffalo as the Incredible Hulk, AKA Bruce Banner, Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow, AKA Natasha Romanov, and Chris Hemsworth as Thor. The film was a hit, grossing more than $1.5 billion and becoming one of the most successful films of all time.

One of the main executives behind The Avengers — and nearly every Marvel project since — was Victoria Alonso. Alonso started out with Marvel in 2006 as Chief of Visual Effects and Post-Production. Now, in a shocking turn, Alonso has decided to leave Marvel after 17 years.

News of Alonso’s departure was broken by The Hollywood Reporter:

Victoria Alonso, the longtime and high-profile Marvel Studios executive whose time with the company dates back to the first Iron Man, has left the studio, multiple sources tell The Hollywood Reporter.

The reasons for the exit are unclear but she parted ways with the studio Friday, sources say….

In addition to her behind-the-scenes work, she has been an important ambassador for the studio’s representation efforts and was outspoken during Disney’s brouhaha with Florida over its Don’t Say Gay bill.” As long as I am at Marvel Studios, I will fight for representation,” Alonso, who is gay, said at the time.

She was named one of People en Español magazine’s Most Influential Hispanic Women in 2019 and 2020 and has been featured on The Hollywood Reporter’s Women in Entertainment Power 100 list multiple times.

While Alonso’s main work is focused on the Marvel Cinematic Universe, she also served as a producer on the Oscar-nominated film Argentina, 1985. The film was very close to Alonso’s heart, as she was born in La Plata, Argentina, in 1965. She moved to the United States when she was 19 years old.

At this time, we don’t know why Alonso has decided to leave Marvel Studios. Her exit comes on the heels of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania having an incredibly poor showing at the box office. The film made over a quarter of a billion dollars, but is one of the worst-performing movies to date.