Ike Perlmutter, longtime Marvel Entertainment CEO, has been sent packing. The New York Times reports that Perlmutter has been laid off by Disney after Marvel’s parent corporation determined that Ike’s role was redundant. In fact, the Times says Disney has decided all of Marvel Entertainment is redundant and will “be folded into larger Disney business units.”

The news comes a few months after a public rebuke of Perlmutter by Disney CEO Bob Iger following a protracted proxy battle in which Perlmutter-backed stockholder Nelson Peltz attempted to seize a seat on Disney’s board. Perlmutter’s layoff is described by the Times as “part of a cost-cutting campaign,” something the notoriously frugal Perlmutter likely won’t find as ironic as we do.

Perlmutter is the latest casualty of Disney’s massive layoffs, the reported aim of which being the elimination of 7,000 jobs, or 4% of the corporation’s global workforce. It’s another sign of extreme irony that Iger was forced to announce the cutbacks because of the Peltz/Perlmutter takeover bid…and now Ike is the victim of it. Rob Steffens, co-president of Marvel Entertainment, and John Turitzin, chief counsel were also laid off.

As for what Marvel Entertainment being “folded into larger Disney business units” means for Marvel’s staff, that feels very much up in the air. Disney has a fairly robust publishing wing already, and they’ve been releasing books based on Marvel properties for readers of all ages since 2012, though those releases have consisted of picture books and prose and not comics specifically. It could also mean Disney will begin to rely more on licensing out their Marvel comics production, something they’re already doing with Scholastic in the young reader graphic novel area. They’ve also struck major deals with Penguin and Taschen for deluxe reprint programs. 

Ike Perlmutter’s tenure at Marvel oversaw its total triumph as the most important brand in entertainment for over a decade, starting with its bold move to create its own movie studio back in 2007. The success of Iron Man led to Disney’s acquisition of the publisher on August 31, 2009. However, the comics publishing wing survived under Perlmutter’s extreme frugality which not only led to amusing anecdotes about fishing paper clips out of wastebaskets, but affected the publisher in more direct and harmful ways: Ike famously didn’t understand the importance of backstock to a publisher, and didn’t allow any to be kept on hand. This meant that instead of keeping a trove of perennial classics in constantly print and basically minting money for the bookstore market, books were constantly going out of print, coming back in different editions and just being a confusing tangle.. Although the publisher got better at managing its backlist, its bookstore sales are still only a fraction of what they could be…part of the reason they’ve been licensing out so many projects. 

Although Ike was increasingly absent from the Marvel office, running the VA as a shadow cabinet member in the Trump administration,  he was still a feared presence, given to mercurial rages. After Disney acquired Marvel, he became one of their biggest shareholders, and tried to apply his cheap ways to the larger Consumer Products division. His penny pinching even as the MCU became a multi billion $ franchise rankled both Iger and Kevin Feige, leading to Perlmutter being booted form running the studio. And his return in the form of a potential shareholder revolt brought out the fight in Iger, who buried Ike’s taste by revealing he had wanted to fire the most valuable man in Hollywood, Kevin Feige. Ike Perlmutter also had a reputation for homophobia and racism, with a few lawsuits resulting from his actions

But enough history: I know what you are asking. Is this the end of Marvel Comics? My DMs and texts are a mixed message on that at present. It could be as dire as it sounds: a redundant division fading into the trailers on the backlot of the World’s Happiest Studio. 

Or it could be that dissolving Marvel Entertainment was the only way to get rid of Ike, given his contract. I’m hearing more optimistic takes that having Marvel President Dan Buckley report directly to Kevin Feige is the vest thing that could happen. 

In another ironic although unrelated touch, in only a few days, Marvel will switch from Hachette to PRH for distribution, meaning even more changes at the publisher….or what’s left of it. 

Obviously, this is a developing story. And let the anecdotes about Ike flow…hidden for years out of fear. Sounds like we have a Whole New 10 Days That Changed the World on our hands. 

[Additional reporting by Joe Grunenwald.]

Related