Marvel’s Veteran Latina Executive Producer Victoria Alonso Cuts Ties With Studio
Victoria Alonso was one of the first Latinas to break the glass ceiling. The veteran Marvel executive has severed ties with the studio, and no one knows why.
As several sources told The Hollywood Reporter, the veteran, whose career with the company dates back to the first Iron Man, parted ways with Marvel.
After watching the studio grow from scratch, Victoria Alonso appears to have exited through the back door.
During Alonso’s tenure, the MCU became the highest-grossing franchise in movie history. However, sources reported that Alonso no longer has anything to do with Marvel as of last Friday.
An unprecedented career
Victoria Alonso (57) is a native of Buenos Aires, Argentina. At 19, she moved to Seattle to pursue a career in acting. Her career in the visual effects industry began in Los Angeles with Digital Domain and on films such as “Big Fish” (2003).
Alonso was nominated for Best Special Visual Effects at the 57th British Academy Film Awards.
However, her big break would be with Marvel Studios. She joined the company in 2005 as executive vice president of visual effects and post-production.
At Marvel, Victoria Alonso worked as co-producer on the Marvel Cinematic Universe films “Iron Man” (2008), “Iron Man 2” (2010), “Thor” (2010), and “Captain America: The First Avenger” (2011). Similarly, she served as executive producer on all Marvel Studios productions since “The Avengers” (2012), including production schedules.
In 2015, Marvel Studios promoted Alonso to Executive Vice President of Physical Production, Post Production, VFZ, and Animation.
Alonso became the first woman to win the Advanced Imaging Society’s Harold Lloyd Award for Achievement in Visual Effects. In January 2020, she received the Filmmaker Award from the Motion Picture Sound Editors at the 67th Annual Golden Reel Awards. In October 2021, Alonso was the top honoree at Outfest’s Visionary Award at the November ceremony at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles.
Victoria Alonso and workplace toxicity
However, sources have identified Alonso as “singularly responsible for Marvel’s toxic work environment” when it came to VFX workers, according to Vulture’s Chris Lee.
Employees have described her as “a kingmaker who rewarded unquestioning fealty with an avalanche of work but who also maintained the blacklist that kept FX pros wild-eyed with fear.”
“The main one that everyone’s quite scared of is Victoria Alonso,” another tech said. “If she likes you, you’re going to get work, and you’re going to move up in the industry. If you have pissed her off in any way, you’re going to get frozen out.”
Paradoxically, Alonso wrote in her memoirs, “You don’t need a cape” to have a superpower. “Your superpower is your voice. And your voice will create change for yourself, for society, and for those who you love.”
“If you use your voice, you will create the kind of energy that will bring change to us. To not use your voice is silence, and silence is poison.”
Despite her departure, Victoria Alonso worked as a producer on the upcoming Marvel films, including “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” and “The Marvels.” Similarly, she worked on the Disney+ shows “Secret Invasion,” “Ironheart,” “Echo” and “Agatha: Coven of Chaos.”
