Trump A New Marvel Superhero? CEO Donates $1M To Cause

Donald Trump bolted on the Fox News GOP debate last night, but that didn’t stop Marvel CEO Ike Perlmutter and his wife Laura, from donating $1 million to the front runner’s favorite cause.

The Perlmutters donation went to Trump’s charity for veterans. They had previously donated $2 million to Marco Rubio’s campaign — as in, Rubio’s actual campaign fund, not a separate charity. Could a switcharoo of an endorsement be on the way?

Ike Perlmutter is a conservative so it shouldn’t come as a huge surprise to Marvel fans who read a lot of industry news. When Joss Whedon complained about trying to get progressive ideas past “the money guys,” this could very well be what he meant. Let’s recall that Perlmutter is the guy who expressed his doubts about the financial viability of female-led superhero movies; rumor has it that he was also the sole arguer against Black Widow toys, among other things. Allegedly, tensions had been high between Perlmutter and Marvel’s Kevin Feige due to those disagreements, leading to restructuring last year; Feige now reports to Disney’s Alan Horn instead, and by all accounts, Perlmutter has been less hands-on, which explains the diversity-driven decisions Marvel has made this year. Given what we know about Perlmutter’s politics, that all makes a lot of sense. h/t themarysue

No word on when Trump’s new action figure will hit shelves.