Marvel Studios Suffers Layoffs Affecting Artists: What Happened And Its Artbook Future
- 12 minutes ago
- 5 min read
April 15th 2026
Unfortunate news hit this week, as Disney laid off around 1000 members of staff across multiple divisions, including the entire Disney Home Entertainment team and the reason for this article, the Marvel Studios Visual Development department.
Given how often I speak on the artbooks from the studio, from announcements and updates, to previews and reviews, it wasn’t something I could ignore here from the perspective of both what has happened, but also the future of the books.
Marvel Studios is unlike most other studios in that it has an in-house team of artists working for them full time, while most would hire people on a contract for a single movie. This does happen elsewhere, such as Lucasfilm, and they also use contractors as well, but the core team was what helped make the Marvel Cinematic Universe special and build a well-developed universe. As of Tuesday the 14th of April that has changed, because it is now the case that only a skeleton crew remains, as reported by Forbes. This is a part of The Walt Disney Company's larger wave of layoffs to "streamline operations", seen in a memo from CEO Josh D'Amaro.
Not all of the details are public of course, including who remains, why those people were selected, and how this will change their approach going forward. Some of this we will never know, but for the biggest franchise in cinema to be laying off the people that helped bring the characters and worlds from the comics to the screen, things cannot be good. It is important to note though, that they will still be using artists, possibly some of the same ones, but on a film-by-film basis, as opposed to working full-time on the team.
Forbes does report that sources say that is it down to Marvel Studios’ reduction in their production slate, but given that the team has existed for over 10 years, in which a lot of that time had only a couple of movies released per year, that doesn’t seem to make sense from an outside perspective. An in-house team was being spoken about as early as the pre-production of Captain America: The First Avenger and really came into place around the time they were working on Avengers and Iron Man 3, as revealed by the head of the department Ryan Meinerding in his book, Marvel Studios: The Art of Ryan Meinerding (preview pages below).
This is not to say that the release schedule slowing down is not a contributing factor, but it would suggest there is more at play. Concept art for the end of the Multiverse Saga is likely finished, confirmed unfortunately by leaked artwork for the upcoming Avengers movies back in March of 2025. It may be that what has been dubbed ‘The Mutant Saga’, the next phase after Avengers: Secret Wars, will be approached differently, but this can only be speculated on.
What is also speculation is who is left on the team. This could be revealed in the future, though it is likely the case that the Head of Visual Development, Ryan Meinerding, and the Director of Visual Development, Andy Park, are still at the studio as part of the ‘skeleton crew’. Beyond that it is hard to say, but we do know the talented Wesley Burt is one of the artists let go through the social media post below, sharing that his layoff meeting was done in a room that has his own artwork on the walls. Burt worked on Eternals, Loki Season Two, Avengers: Endgame, Thunderbolts, Deadpool & Wolverine, and more.
It’s a tough time for artists across all disciplines, from concept and 3D artists, to illustrators and animators, with layoffs and closures happening endlessly over the last few years. Video game talent has suffered a lot, because they work as permanent in-house employees unlike most teams that work on movies. However, we can assume it would be just as bad in Hollywood if they worked in the same way, as seen this week with Marvel Studios. The economy, poor decision making, inflated budgets, and the increasingly dangerous use of AI is having a large impact, so it is depressing to know that more bad news is certainly coming for more people.
As for the future of the artbooks for Marvel Studios' projects, it’s tough to say, even as someone that reports on and owns all of them. The books are fantastic celebrations and showcases of the artist’s work, sharing early designs, unused concepts, and insights from the creatives behind the pieces shown and the movies too. I want to say they will continue, because they included work from contractors in the past, so there is no reason for that to change going forward.
As I reported in the reveal for Marvel Studios’ Avengers: Doomsday – The Art of the Movie, the publisher seems to be backtracking on the series, which went from a standard hardcover, to a slipcase format, a 'Deluxe Edition', and now back again for their next two entries. This was great news, because the prices went from $60 to $150, which was simply unreasonable for the average fan. Now they are coming with an RRP of $50 and arrive just days after the movies release and that’s excellent news, but in light of these layoffs, could this be them winding down and stopping entirely? I like to think not, however we can only wait and see given the lack of marketing and communication from Marvel for the books, despite how good they are.
Outside of the Marvel published books, it was only a days ago that Tara Bennett, the author of Marvel Studios: The Art of Ryan Meinerding from Abrams Books, said on social media that more artbooks for other artists for other artists could be possible if enough people bought the first book. It’s another opportunity for printed works for the movies and shows to come to fruition, but this recent news may make that very difficult.
Future news on Marvel Studios' artbooks will be reported here, and those interested can read reviews for some of the series below, including the re-releases of the Infinity Saga books from Titan Books, which come highly recommended if you missed out on the earlier titles.
Marvel Studios' The Infinity Saga – Black Panther: The Art of the Movie
Marvel Studios’ The Infinity Saga – Thor: Ragnarok – The Art of the Movie
Marvel Studios’ The Fantastic Four: First Steps – The Art of the Movie
Marvel Studios’ The Infinity Saga – Spider-Man: Homecoming – The Art of the Movie
Marvel Studios’ The Infinity Saga – Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2: The Art of the Movie
Marvel Studios’ The Infinity Saga – Doctor Strange: The Art of the Movie
I wanted to end by saying that this site was made and is run by just myself, a collector in the UK, wanting to share news and reviews like no one else does, something I believe I have been doing and for that I am proud. It’s a small site as artbooks are very niche, but it’s found some traction among fellow geeks and art lovers. Expanding is always at the back of my mind, and while this isn’t the type of story I hoped to begin with, it seemed appropriate to spread my wings a bit and talk about wider news. I’m not a trained journalist, but you have to start somewhere and so I hope you found this interesting and enjoy the website. I wish that all artists hit with layoffs land on their feet and find a way to continue sharing their artwork and help to build the worlds we love.
