Disney now owns Marvel, and is starting to retcon everything. Including the old issues that they are relying on for their profit: the reason that Marvel makes money is that they have thirty to fifty years of cultural momentum.
Disney will, as usual kill it, gut it, wear the skinsuit and demand copyright.
Chairman and CEO Bob Iger reiterated Disney’s current policy at a shareholder meeting yesterday (March 12), noting that the only exception is when films depict real-life historical figures who were known for their tobacco habit. “For instance, we’ve been doing a movie on Abraham Lincoln, he was a smoker, and we would consider that acceptable,” he said.
This isn’t the first time the Avengers have shied away from cigarettes, of course. When Joe Quesada first stepped up as Editor in Chief of Marvel Comics in 2001, he implemented a similar ban for all the main Marvel characters — having lost a grandfather to lung cancer, he believed that depicting smoking in comics encouraged the behavior. Issues in the Marvel back catalog remained unchanged, but recently new trade collections have had their cover art altered to reflect the company’s anti-smoking policy.
Cataline Serguis correctly notes that the current management of Disney do not care. They will mine the cultural tropes as long as they can, and leave nothing but ash, and the failure of the Star Wars universe is an example. (I would add that the same type of management has ruined Dr Who and Star Trek).
The annoying thing about Iger is that he was never meant to inherit the crown.
He was just the last man left standing after Roy Disney went to war with Michael Eisner.
The man is the king of short term gain long term loss. It is just that the losses haven’t piled up yet.
No matter how successful Marvel or Star Wars are, the brands are distinct from Disney’s. I am quite certain that Marvel films will continue to rake it in for at least the next ten years but I have a feeling Star Wars is going to start losing money hand over fist in the next five.
The Star Wars universe is ultimately very limited. Lightsaber wielding space warlocks, WWII style dogfights and comical robots are about it. You can’t expand beyond that.
But do not worry. When there is a vacuum, there will be those who want to step into the gap. The comic niche will be filled.