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Check out this clever marketing stunt for The Long Walk.

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FEATURE

💀 Marvel's Director Graveyard: How the MCU Kills Auteurs

Marvel's corporate content machine has perfected the art of neutering visionary filmmakers, turning Oscar winners into assembly-line workers for Disney's IP factory.

The studio's strategy is brutally simple: recruit hot indie directors fresh off festival darlings, strip away their distinctive voices, then watch their careers crater outside the Marvel bubble.

The Auteur Graveyard

Chloé Zhao went from Oscar-winning "Nomadland" (budget: $6M) to the critically panned "Eternals" (budget: $236M). Her intimate, naturalistic style was suffocated by greenscreen and committee oversight. Critics noted her direction "reveals the absurdity of the script" in a film that "might as well have been done via green screen."

The Russo Brothers dominated the MCU with $7+ billion in box office success, then immediately cratered with solo projects:

• Cherry (2021): 37% on Rotten Tomatoes

• The Gray Man (2022): Generic Netflix fodder

• The Electric State (2025): Called "dull" and "lacking a spark"

Their post-Marvel average: 39.25% on Rotten Tomatoes. One critic noted their recent films are "some of the worst and priciest movies of the past six years."

The Creative Differences Exodus

Marvel's authoritarian production model has driven away numerous auteurs:

• Edgar Wright ("Ant-Man"): "I wanted to make a Marvel movie but they didn't want to make an Edgar Wright movie"

• Scott Derrickson ("Doctor Strange 2"): Left over horror elements Marvel deemed too risky

• Patty Jenkins ("Thor: The Dark World"): Departed during pre-production

The System Revealed

Former Marvel executive Victoria Alonso allegedly told sources that directors "don't direct the films"—the studio does. Marvel deliberately hires indie filmmakers without VFX experience to maintain total control.

As one VFX artist noted, Marvel picks "people who do not have any experience with VFX"—including Zhao, Ryan Coogler, and Taika Waititi—making them "hired hands" rather than creative partners.

The brutal result: Marvel transforms cinema's most promising voices into interchangeable cogs in Disney's money machine.

Related: VFX artist explains what its like working with Marvel.

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