It’s almost three years to the day since Victoria Alonso’s very public split from Marvel in 2023 as the studio’s former president of physical production.

She’s doing great. She’s got a new book out, aptly titled “Possibility Is Your Superpower: Unlock Your Endless Potential,” and she is back producing: “Baton,” starring Danny Ramirez, will be out later this year.

The book isn’t a tell-all. It’s a story of empowering oneself, and learning to use your voice. Throughout, Alonso provides polaroid moments from her life. She talks about living through Argentina’s military dictatorship, protesting the government, and moving to America as a young 16-year-old, where she was protesting on the streets.

She talks about being a dreamer who chasing the American dream. Alonso took a job as an agent at Alaska Airlines and even took shifts at a steakhouse, but she wanted was determined to find her way into Hollywood, with zero connections.

Alonso achieved it.

She found herself working as a page at Paramount Studios, learning the behind-the-scenes and working on “The Arsenio Hall Show.” “I would love to work there again,” she tells Variety.

In 2006, Alonso joined Marvel Studios, working alongside Kevin Feige and Louis D’Esposito. She was a Latina woman and a member of the LGBTQ community who got her foot in the door and found herself with a seat at the table.

She oversaw visual effects, earned an executive producer credit in 2012’s “The Avengers” and went on to become president of physical production, visual effects, and animation. It was a title she fought for. She writes, “I had put it on the table to be considered a few times, but it hadn’t happened yet.” She adds, “I began to seriously consider leaving but decided to bring it up with HR again. I was delighted to be a part of this group of people who made great movies that made a meaningful impact in many lives, but if this was to be the end of our road together, I was okay with that too.”

Alonso was elevated again in 2021. She wanted to inspire young Latinas and produced more than 35 films and 15 series. She shepherded projects including “Black Panther” and “Eternals.” The films collectively grossed more than $30 billion globally.

Towards the end of “Possibility Is Your Superpower: Unlock Your Endless Potential,” Alonso finds herself
in the process of exploring the myriad questions that are planted throughout the Marvel movies. She writes, “I found myself wondering about similar questions. Am I doing what I love? What would I do if I didn’t have this job? Would my ego allow me to reinvent myself, or would it throw me into a state of depression, like Dr. Strange after his accident? And, despite the ever-increasing demands, the answers were always resounding: Yes, I was doing what I loved. And yes, if I lost it all, I knew I would find a way to reinvent myself.”

Reinvention is exactly what Alonso is doing. Here, she talks about her exit, the women who supported her, what’s next, promising “what’s coming is even better,” and she shares her thoughts on AI.

It’s coming up to three years since your exit at Marvel, how are you doing?

I actually feel very good. I have happy to say, we just finished shooting “Baton,” which is the movie that we’re doing with Danny Ramirez. I’m producing with Sir David Beckham, and we have a beautiful Latin cast. We have Eugenio Derbez, Edgar Ramírez, Rosario Dawson, Maia Reficco, Danny Ramirez, Diego Luna, Diego Calva and Becky G.

It’s a beautiful group that can define a new generation of filmmakers and storytellers, and it’s a story of perseverance, and of being lost when you are in the face of a great loss in your life. I thought that would be a good first outing after everything that went on in my life.

Speaking of loss, after the exit at Marvel, did anyone reach out to you after to offer you support?

I had some people. I wouldn’t say that I had all the people that I wish I had. Amy Pascal and Kathleen Kennedy were pretty amazing. Pam Abdy and Donna Langley were great. Some of the women that were peers were very much in support and very present. I’m assuming you’re asking Hollywood support?

In Hollywood, that’s when you learn who your real friends are.

I always knew I had very few friends, and that was by design and choice, and I confirmed that. I never believed in the title, or the freedoms that being at the top of the food chain of Hollywood success — because we had unprecedented success — to be a part of or be in charge of the most successful studio of all time until I left. It’s a pretty big event. Being Latina, being gay, as far as the diversity of it all, no other woman had reached that level of success. I believe that, and I always was very keen on talking about this. People are like, “What success to you?” To me, success is being able to get out the door with a toddler that has clothes on. That’s success. That kept it real for me for a very long time. Now that my kid is a teenager, the success is, leaving on time. Period. I never really thought that I was the title. So in that regard, the loss made it a little easier, because if you do believe the title, then you have to strip yourself of that belief. So I didn’t have to strip myself from that belief. I do believe that you do find out who your friends are. And I wasn’t surprised.

Between writing the book and working on ‘Baton,’ have either been healing for you?

The book was more of a cherishing exercise than a grieving exercise. I think my grieving was done on the tennis court, and that’s where I left it, day in and day out. I play three to four times a week, and that was very helpful. The truth is, just because you don’t have a job that represents what you did, doesn’t mean that you didn’t do what you did.

I concentrated on cherishing the legacy I leave behind, which I’m very proud of, and I’m very grateful that Marvel and Disney allowed me to be there for 18 years. It was always in their control whether I was going to be there or not. I am very grateful that they allowed me a lot longer than I thought I’d stay. The book, in a way, was a chance to do that. Disney’s Hyperion is publishing the book.

It’s been an exercise. I never qualified myself as a writer. To be able to say I wrote a book is like when I ran a marathon, I was 37 years old, and then one day I said, “I want to run a marathon.” I just got out and I ran it. It took me five hours, but I ran it. Am I a runner? Nope. Did you run a marathon? Yep. My friend Luz Maria Doria was the one person that pushed me, she’s written five books, and she said, “Every time I hear you speak, I want to take your words with me. It would be great if you could actually put these down, write them in a book,” and here we are.

I play tennis too, and it’s the most therapeutic thing to smash a ball. I haven’t smashed a racquet but came close to it.

I have broken my wrist. I fell backwards. It was right before the “Black Panther” premiere in London. If you see me, I have my cast, I put a cover that was black because I had a black dress so that you thought that it was a part of the the outfit. I’ve never broken anything, except for that time.

Speaking of “Black Panther,” you talk about the hurdles of getting that made. Looking at Ryan Coogler now with the success of “Sinners,” how does it feel to see how far he’s come?

It’s looking at Ryan’s career and Chloe’s Zhao’s career. When they came to us, they had done one or two small films and they took it upon themselves to write these big endeavors, which was making our movies. I see the growth, and I’m so proud of them. I have been wowed, and I have cried, and I just cannot wait to see everything they continue to do, but more than anything, celebrate them now for having achieved what they have.

In the book, so much of what you share is about using the power of your voice. I feel that today, people fear using their voice for fear of repercussion. What would you say to people who fear repercussions of speaking up?

The bigger repercussion of not speaking up is losing yourself. That to me is illegal, immoral and unacceptable. What we see consistently is, what would I lose from the outside? What we don’t look at is, what will this do to me inside? I can tell you, when I wake up, I know who I’m looking at in the mirror. I recognize her. The fact that I can recognize me is worth every single thing. I don’t think I have lost much, except for a job, if you would, or maybe one or two people that I knew that no longer are in my life. What I haven’t lost is myself. I consistently say this every chance I get, and you know this because you are in Hollywood, if you don’t know who you are, Hollywood will tell you who you are. You have to remind yourself first and then them of who you are. Sometimes who you are doesn’t fit who they are, and that’s okay. I mean, that’s how you lose relationships, because you go in different paths.

You started at Paramount as a page, back when you were a dreamer, how does that feel looking back on your time there, especially given where the studio is today?

When I remember those days is like I was wide eyed and this empty canvas of the dream. You walk in and you go, “I’m coming to Hollywood.” I had gone to Hollywood Boulevard, and that was not the Hollywood that I thought I would see because in those days in the 1990s, Hollywood Boulevard was not a clean area. Paramount had so much history and beauty. I love that studio. I would love to work there again. It would be like going back to the stomping grounds. I’m very grateful that eventually I got a page job and I was able to understand the behind the scenes. What I also loved is that there was a bunch of us that were there, all starting at the same time, and this is why I know that I’m a team member, I enjoyed the team portion of that far more than the personal growth of Victoria. Through the years we saw each other grow and leave the industry and some stayed.

How do you feel about the merger, and what are your thougts on it?

Is it happening? When the merger is signed, maybe I’ll have a feeling. I have a lot of feelings, and I am hoping that we can continue to create with freedom. I understand that companies absorb each other. Marvel was bought by Disney, and we had great success. Pixar was bought by Disney, and they had great success. Lucasfilm, the same. Disney was buying everything, and it was very successful for them. I am hoping that the merger happens and that it will be a restructure. In every company that absorbs another company, you have to restructure. I’m hoping that, eventually, it creates new jobs for people. My heart goes like, ah, people are going to lose their jobs. And my dreamer mind goes but soon again, they’ll get more.

You talk about growing up in a military dictatorship, and leaving Argentina. To be in America, seeing what’s happening, what goes through your mind as someone who has live through that, and also to be a parent?

I never thought that we would be in this situation in this beautiful country of ours. That’s why I live here. It is worrisome. There’s a lot of different crumbs of what leads to the autocracy, to the potential dictatorship. It is something to be incredibly alert and awake, and you can’t take anything for granted. I never thought that I would be planning a march with my kid. If I was out of town and my kid was going to march, I would have conversations like, “This is your exit strategy. This is what you need to do when they start shooting. This is the way that you get out and hopefully you don’t get hurt. This is what you do with tear gas.” We had those conversations. As a parent, but I wouldn’t have it any other way with my kid marching the way that I did. If there is one thing that I wish that I could leave as a legacy, is, always fight for your rights.

In the book, you talk about how Hollywood consistently suffers from imposter syndrome, and people who suffer from it. Was there any point, you felt you had imposter syndrome?

No. Not one. I’ll tell you, imposter syndrome has been created by people that think they know everything. I can tell you this, none of us do, so just cut the crap. Nobody knows it all. Those are things that people do to shame us. And you know what? Shame on you for shaming us. Do I have a lot to learn? Yes, indeed, did I know everything when I went in? No, in fact, I was very clear, “I don’t know. Will you teach me?”

Imposter syndrome is something, not to get too political, I think the patriarchy has put together this beautiful thing that we have to know it all in order to exercise our right to do and be. We’re all learning, we’re all students. I came to the plate saying, “I don’t know a lot,” but I was very clear about it. So if you gave me the job, you knew that I didn’t know, so I never had to pretend. That to me, gave me that freedom, and if you were keen on it, you already knew that I didn’t know, but you also knew that I was resourceful, that I was present, I was honest, and I was a hard worker – still a hard worker.

What are your thoughts on AI?

It’s reckoning, a before and after, and we don’t even know where it’s going. There was a brand new AI actress that they did a short film on. The quality is insanely good, and it’s a very worrisome capability that the technology has. When used for the good and to help to create visual effects, it’s a good thing. When it starts replacing things that we do as humans, there is a robotic way of who we are and where we are going to encounter our own reckoning of who we are as a people. We don’t even know. We are at the tip of the iceberg with this one.

Do you still watch Marvel movies today?

I do, but there hasn’t been a Marvel movie in a while, so when they come out, I’ll go see it.

What do you want people to take from reading the book?

I want you to be able to read it and take from it what you need. Everyone is different, but if there is one thing, the only people that know our true potential about you is yourself. Listen to that inner voice that consistently reminds you of your inner potential and get on with it.

What’s next for you?

There’s plenty. Everything that we did up to now is great, and what’s coming is even better.

Possibility Is Your Superpower: Unlock Your Endless Potential is out now on Amazon and published by Hyperion Avenue.