Isaac "Ike" Perlmutter

Isaac "Ike" Perlmutter (Hebrew: יצחק "אייק" פרלמוטר; born December 1, 1942) is an Israeli-American billionaire businessman and financier. Through a variety of sometimes unorthodox business deals, he has been an influential investor in a number of corporations, including Revco drug stores, Coleco Entertainment, Remington, and Toy Biz/Marvel Toys. He is the former chairman and CEO of Marvel Entertainment. He has a political relationship with Donald Trump, and acted as an unofficial advisor in his presidential administration, overseeing the Department of Veterans Affairs. Isaac Perlmutter was a member of the board of directors of Marvel Comics beginning in April 1993 and was chairman of the board until March 1995. In September 2015, Perlmutter stopped overseeing the development of Marvel Studios. Disney felt studio head Kevin Feige should report directly to the chair of The Walt Disney Studios, Alan Horn, so that all cinematic properties of Disney (including Pixar and Lucasfilm) were under one management structure. The restructuring was reportedly due to Feige's "frustration" of working with Perlmutter as well as alleged comments and actions by Perlmutter, such as replacing Terrence Howard – who wanted more money to continue playing James Rhodes – with Don Cheadle, arguing that black people "look the same." Perlmutter's sidelining coincided with a significant increase in Marvel Studio's focus on diversity and inclusiveness. Jeph Loeb, who oversaw Marvel Television and the television properties of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, still reported to Perlmutter up until 2019.