Bob Iger says ‘Thunderbolts*’ is start of a new era for Marvel: “We lost a little focus”
Disney CEO Bob Iger has looked back at the post-pandemic Marvel roster with a fresh set of eyes, acknowledging the inconsistency of their success and promising Thunderbolts* heralds the turn of a new leaf.
Marvel executives can breathe a sigh of relief over the new offering’s box-office success, which made $76 million on opening weekend. In contrast, movies like Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, The Marvels, and Captain America: Brave New World were among Disney’s first comic book franchise instalments to lose money.
The CEO acknowledged the reprioritisation of quantity over quality post-pandemic. He said, “We all know that in our zeal to flood our streaming platform with more content, we turned to all of our creative engines, including Marvel, and had them produce a lot more. We’ve also learned over time that quantity does not necessarily beget quality.”
The boss then underlined a new recognition: “Frankly, we’ve all admitted to ourselves that we lost a little focus by making too much. By consolidating a bit and having Marvel focus much more on their films, we believe that will result in better quality. I think the first and best example is Thunderbolts*. I feel very good about that.”
Iger finally looked to the future to exercise his renewed hopefulness. “I have a lot of confidence that are upcoming slate,” Iger said, referring to upcoming offerings such as Lilo & Stitch, Fantastic Four: The First Steps and Avatar: Fire and Ash, which will close out 2025. Then in 2026, they are throwing The Mandalorian and Grogu, Avengers: Doomsday and Toy Story 5 into the ring.
Further highlighting the success of the movie, Thunderbolts* has changed its name to The New Avengers after its release in cinemas. This has prompted speculation about what could come next in the superhero franchise.
The cast of Thunderbolts* gathered on May 5th for a video released on Marvel’s social media channels to unveil the film’s new name on its posters, ripping the original title off to reveal The New Avengers written underneath.
The film is out in cinemas now worldwide.
Never Miss A Scene
The Far Out Film Newsletter
All the latest film news from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.