Marvel boss Victoria Alonso talks Infinity War, 10 years of the MCU and her gay superhero mission

BOX office juggernaut Marvel is breaking new ground thanks to Black Panther and Captain Marvel — now mover and shaker Victoria Alonso wants a gay superhero front and centre.

WHEN Iron Man had its world premiere in Australia 10 years ago, two weeks ahead of the rest of the world, it’s fair to say that expectations weren’t sky high.

Few outside of the comic book world had even heard of the title character, played by Robert Downey Jr, who was then still on the comeback trail after ongoing issues with drink and drugs that had seen him serve time in jail.

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Marvel producer Victoria Alonso and US actor Mark Ruffalo, who plays the Hulk, promoting Avengers: Infinity War in Mexico this month. Picture: Alfredo Estrella/ AFP PHOTO

When he and the man who fought hard to get him, Iron Man director Jon Favreau, hit Sydney to promote the film, they had no idea how it would be received, let alone what it would launch.

“This could be anything from a flop to a moderate single or something that’s beyond what people’s expectations are — you never know,” Favreau said at the time.

Film history records that Favreau’s third possibility turned out to be the correct one.
Iron Man would go on to make more than $600 million at the box office but more importantly it launched the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a series of interlinked movies featuring different superheroes, including Captain America, Thor and The Hulk, from the pages of Marvel comic books.

The 18 films released so far — the 19th, Avengers: Infinity War, is released Wednesday and another five (at least) are in the works — have grossed more than $18 billion, making MCU the most successful franchise ever.

So popular has it become, even movies based on obscure heroes such as Ant-Man, the Guardians of the Galaxy and Doctor Strange consistently outperform movies starring their instantly recognisable DC Comics rivals Batman and Superman.

The success of the franchise, which shows no signs of abating, is in no small part down to the leadership team of Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige, who had the initial dream of bringing the superheroes together for The Avengers, and his producing partners Victoria Alonso and Louis D’Esposito.

Alonso, who was last year named among The Hollywood Reporter’s Women in Entertainment Power 100, echoes Favreau’s sentiment that expectations were modest but hopes were high ahead of the release of Iron Man in 2008.

“We just wanted to make the best movie that we could,” she said.

Black Panther/T'Challa (played by Chadwick Boseman), pictured here in the coming Avengers: Infinity War, was a huge hit in his own groundbreaking film released in February.

“And we thought, hey if we make this great movie then maybe we can do another movie together. We had no idea it would become what it’s become. Our hope is to always make the best movie possible and that’s pretty much the philosophy of the studio — tell the best story. And if there’s character and story then they will keep on coming back.”

Inevitably, because of the source material from which the films come — comic books written mostly by men in the 1960s — the MCU has until recently been overwhelmingly male and white.
But timely to the spirit of the #MeToo and #OscarsSoWhite movements, and buoyed by the runaway success of last year’s DC effort Wonder Woman, Alonso says that the studio is committed to embracing diversity.

Black Panther, the first Marvel film driven by an African-American lead (Chadwick Boseman) and director (Ryan Coogler), was a monster hit upon release in February.
It is now the world’s 10th highest grossing film ever.

Cameras are now rolling on the studio’s first female-driven superhero film, with Oscar-winner Brie Larsen in the title role of Captain Marvel.
A writer was also recently tapped to script a solo outing for Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow.

As a gay Latino woman, diversity is not only important to Alonso, it also makes sound economic sense to accurately reflect the real world on the big screen. And in the real world, more than half of the audience for Marvel’s films are women and a significant portion are of Latino or African-American heritage.

Robert Downey Jr. in Sydney in April, 2008, at the world premiere of Iron Man, which kicked off the Marvel Cinematic Universe. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)

“I address it in every moment that I can,” she says of the diversity challenge. “I always said that Black Panther and Captain Marvel are the legacy that I would leave for my daughter. That’s how important it is to me. I hope it’s as important to the people who see it and to an industry that is aching for diversity to actually be dealt with. And to look at it like: if we don’t do it we are actually leaving money at the table.

“Change is slow coming and these movies take a long time to make. But we have very hard conversations about ‘that character in the comics was a man — could it be a woman?’ And the answer a lot of the time is yes and we make the change. It could be a black man instead of a white man, or an Asian man — and that’s how you make change.”

Having now successfully introduced black and female characters into MCU, Alonso, who is married to Australian actor Imelda Corcoran, says putting a gay character front and centre is her next mission. Marvel-affiliated TV shows Agents of S.H. I. E. L. D and Jessica Jones have had gay characters and Alonso says it’s time for representation on the big screen, too.

“It’s a very important topic for myself,” she says. “I have been married to my wife for three years so clearly this is something very much at the forefront of what I would like to accomplish.

“I won’t leave Marvel until I do that. Whether it takes me two months or the next 20 years, that’s what I would like to do. It’s great that Jessica Jones and Agents of S.H. I. E. L. D have it and I celebrate them for it and I hope that we get there soon.”

Alonso, who comes from a visual effects background and oversees post-production on the Marvel films, also salutes the franchise’s Australian connection. Homegrown visual effects companies Iloura and Method (which merged in February) have been integral to the complex, varied and spectacular worlds of the heroes. Meanwhile Aussie actors continue to shine in a range of roles.

Cate Blanchett as Hela in a scene from the Gold Coast shot Marvel hit, Thor: Ragnarok

Chris Hemsworth was an inspired, left-field choice to play the God of Thunder, Thor; Cate Blanchett was the first female lead villain in the Gold Coast-shot Thor: Ragnarok; and Hollywood’s go-to bad guy, Melburnian Ben Mendelsohn, is currently shooting Captain Marvel in the US.

“We love talented people — and Australia has incredibly talented people,” Alonso says. “It’s a joy to find people with the rare talent of Chris and Ben and Cate and it’s wonderful that they come from your beautiful land. I have a very soft spot for Australia, a lot of my in-laws live there and that’s where I met my wife. Not only that, we love shooting in your country and I am devoted to returning to shoot there at some point in time.”

As one of the few people who have seen the furiously anticipated Infinity War (no less than 40 times!), Alonso admits to being proud, but still anxious. That’s despite presales figures in the US being higher than for the past seven Marvel movies combined.

She’s tight-lipped about the first part of a story — another as-yet untitled Avengers film will be released next year — that is rumoured to be the last hurrah for some much-loved characters.

“Everyone will have their opinions on what happens with the story — we will be hearing all the feelings and emotions,” she says. “It’s very emotional for me, by the way, the movie as a whole. It’s the culmination of all these stories we have been telling for more than 10 years. It’s all these beautiful characters colliding and it’s definitely emotional. And funny. And entertaining.”
Avengers: Infinity War opens Wednesday


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Originally published as Marvel boss Victoria Alonso talks Infinity War, 10 years of the MCU and her gay superhero mission