Long-time Marvel Studios executive and openly queer Latine Victoria Alonso, whose time with the company dates back to 2008’s Iron Man, has left the company. Among fans, there is already much speculation about the reasons for her departure from the studio, which comes in the wake of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’s poor performance at the box office and complaints from Marvel’s VFX artists about being overworked and underpaid.

“The reasons for [Alonso’s] the exit are unclear,” The Hollywood Reporter wrote on the morning of March 20.

However, the outlet’s sources say she parted ways with Marvel Studios on Friday. Having been with the company since the earliest days of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Alonso has worked on many of Marvel’s biggest blockbusters during her 17-year tenure with the studio, “watching the studio grow from operating above a Mercedes-Benz dealership in Beverly Hills to being acquired by Disney.”

Alonso joined the company in 2006 as chief of visual effects and postproduction and has played a crucial role in the MCU becoming the highest-grossing franchise in film history. In 2008, she served as co-producer on Iron Man.

After also serving as co-producer on Iron Man 2 (2010), Thor (2011), and Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), Alonso was promoted to the role of executive producer on 2012’s The Avengers, the landmark film that grossed $1.5 billion and proved that the concept of a shared cinematic universe could really work. On subsequent MCU and Disney+ releases, the Argentine-born creator served as executive producer.

In 2021, Alonso was promoted to president, physical and postproduction, visual effects and animation production at Marvel. “Victoria has been an incredible partner and part of our team since the very first Iron Man,” said Marvel Studios HBIC (that’s head-boss-in-charge) Kevin Feige and co-president Louis D’Esposito in a statement to THR at the time. “She is one of the most dynamic, candid and accessible executives in the industry, and we’re thrilled that she’ll continue to be by our side in this elevated role as we lead Marvel Studios into the future.”

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Victoria Alonso Played an Important Role in Increasing the MCU’s LGBTQIA+ Representation
Marvel Studios

As one of the first queer Latine women to hold such a high-ranking title in the film industry, Alonso has played an important role in Marvel’s representation efforts, and she has regularly bemoaned the lack of representation in the MCU.

Alonso told BBC’s Talking Movies’ Tom Brook in 2018 that women occupying the executive ranks in Hollywood are still in a minority and consistently found that she was either one of the very few or the only woman in the room. “It is better when you have balance, when you have a 50/50 it creates for a better room, for a better conversation and I think it sort of guides stories in a way that it doesn’t if there is only one of me,” she said.

The former Marvel producer spoke about queer representation in the MCU (in 2018), saying, “The gay community has not been represented whatsoever. I’m gay, so I can tell you that I would long for that.” Despite her efforts over the years, Marvel has failed many of its queer characters by promising well-rounded representation in the films and then ultimately dropping scenes that confirmed a character’s sexuality (re: Valkyrie, Okoye, and Ayo). With Alonso’s exit, fans must wait and see about the future of other queer characters who have been promised in the MCU (re: Wiccan and America Chavez).

“We are determined to have everyone represented in our films in some way, at some point in time. […] I think that every ‘team’ film [like The Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy] that we do has to have a very diverse cast, and that’s something that we are definitely working on trying to achieve,” she added. “You don’t get to have this kind of success if the entire world doesn’t see your product.”

She was also outspoken during Disney’s dispute with Florida over its “Don’t Say Gay” bill. “As long as I am at Marvel Studios, I will fight for representation,” Alonso said.