The Biggest Scandals To Ever Hit Marvel Movies

Love 'em or hate 'em, film critics are an essential part of the Hollywood machine. They impact the conversation surrounding a movie and can define a film's legacy. So unless they're dreading bad reviews, movie studios usually allow critics to view advanced screenings of their films. That way, good reviews can build buzz and get people excited before a movie hits theaters.

But in 2017, Disney laid the hammer down, refusing to give an advanced screening of Thor: Ragnarok to the Los Angeles Times. (The House of Mouse owns Marvel Studios.) So what motivated Disney to keep the Times out of Asgard? Well, the paper had published a series of stories on the relationship between the movie studio and the city of Anaheim, California, where Disney is based. According to the Times, Anaheim gives the company an insane amount of perks, and Disney has even tried to influence the city's elections.

Obviously, Disney wasn't crazy about this kind of scrutiny, and while it never denied the stories were true, it enacted a ban against the newspaper, starting with Thor: Ragnarok. However, the ban only lasted four days, as pretty much every journalist in the U.S. banded together to fight the studio. Multiple critics organizations refused to consider Disney films for awards, and outlets like the Washington Post and the New York Times said they wouldn't attend Disney events. So in the end, Disney rescinded the ban, ending a battle of superhero proportions.