The Marvel Cinematic Universe is a multibillion-dollar business, so fans and critics alike are a little confused as to why the visual effects tend to be, well … bad. But the conversation is more critical than that because, according to just about everyone, the CGI is actively getting worse as the MCU progresses. “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” and “Moon Knight” received cutting backlash for specific moments of questionable CGI but “She-Hulk: Attorney at Law” and “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” were considered project-wide failures. Good visual effects usually require time, money, and passion, and the MCU should have all three, so what’s going on here?
The simple and depressing answer is that Marvel Studios reportedly underfunds and overworks the visual effects studios that it hires. In 2022, former VFX artist Dhruv Govil tweeted (via CBR), “Working on Marvel shows is what pushed me to leave the VFX industry. They’re a horrible client, and I’ve seen way too many colleagues break down after being overworked, while Marvel tightens the purse strings.” Possibly in response to stories like Govil’s, Marvel has slowed down its release schedule for the foreseeable future.
On a broader scale that affects the full breadth of Hollywood, moviegoers are exhausted by the overuse of CGI. Maybe that’s why something practical and raw like Brandon Baum’s Marvel parody video, which is admittedly a silly little thing, feels so important. It’s not just CGI, it’s charmingly real. But just how real is it?
