Marvel Studios has been hit hard by Disney’s latest round of massive layoffs.
Between Bob Chapek, the return of Bob Iger, and now Josh D’Amaro as Disney’s CEO, Marvel has undergone several major changes in recent years. Under Chapek, there was a push for an abundance of new Marvel shows releasing on Disney+ each year, while Iger changed strategy, leading to a significant decrease in the superhero studio’s new output on the streamer.
According to Forbes, another change is now in effect with approximately one thousand Disney employees being laid off, and D’Amaro saying in a memo that the move is meant to “streamline operations.” Nearly all of Marvel’s visual development team has been let go, with only a skeleton crew of full-time employees remaining. Those laid off include the artists, designers, and technical specialists who have worked across the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s various movies and shows, some of whom were there for 10 or more years.
While the visual development team was hit the hardest, other departments at Marvel were also impacted, with layoffs affecting New York and Burbank staff connected to film and television production, comics, finance, and legal. Outside of Marvel, many individuals working in other Disney studios, television networks, sports, and experiences have also been laid off.
The Marvel layoffs are reportedly related to the shift of reduced output on Disney+ and in theaters, while the company-wide decision is connected to a general effort to cut costs. In D’Amaro’s memo, he stated that “These decisions are not a reflection of their contributions, or of the overall strength of the company. Rather, they reflect our continual evaluation of how to more effectively manage our resources and reinvest in our businesses.”
The layoffs and upending of the visual development team comes at a pivotal time for the studio, with Spider-Man: Brand New Day releasing this summer, Avengers: Doomsday coming in December, and Avengers: Secret Wars in December 2027 on the film side.
On the television side, Daredevil: Born Again season 2 is in the midst of releasing new episodes, the Disney+ special The Punisher: One Last Kill debuts in May, and Daredevil: Born Again season 3 is in production ahead of its anticipated return in the first half of 2027. X-Men ’97 season 2 and VisionQuest are expected to be premiering later in 2026, and there are numerous in-development series and films as well.
While Marvel Studios’ output has been reduced from where it was a couple of years ago, there are still many projects on the way that now need to be handled by a visual development team with significantly fewer employees. This will impact all the MCU’s movies and films in the near future, and is especially daunting for Avengers: Secret Wars, which has not started filming yet and is anticipated to have a massive scale.
Marvel Studios’ visual development team has previously contributed to multiple Academy Awards wins during the MCU’s run, including Best Costume Design and Best Production Design for Black Panther and Best Costume Design for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Iron Man, Iron Man 2, The Avengers, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy, Doctor Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Spider-Man: No Way Home, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 all received Academy Award nominations for Visual Effects.