The Marvel Cinematic Universe has seemed like an unstoppable juggernaut for over a decade now. Nearly every movie in the franchise has been both a critical and commercial success, and while the newest entry, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, is off to a solid start at the box office, the movie isn’t getting the rave reviews we’re used to seeing from the MCU, and one of the reasons may be connected to the last MCU movie, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
One of the criticisms of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania has been that the movie's CGI effects weren’t quite up to snuff, not looking nearly as good as we have come to expect from Marvel Studios. Vulture spoke with people who worked on the VFX for Quantumania and they agree that the final result of the work was not up to snuff. However, according to them, shortcuts had to be taken to get the work done in time, in part because significant resources were taken off of the Ant-Man sequel in order to work on the Black Panther follow-up.
We’ve heard a number of stories in recent months about the VFX industry in general, and specifically how it relates to Marvel Studios. The massive volume of content produced by Marvel, between movies and Disney+ shows, means that there is always something in some phase of production and so a lot of different VFX houses are put to work in order to get it all done, potentially on deadlines that require staff to push themselves to their limits.
On the plus side, even if all this is true, it’s possible that Marvel Studios has taken notice and is taking steps to prevent such an issue from happening again. It’s been suggested that the recent delay of The Marvels, which was set for a July release but will now hit theaters in November, was done in order to give the film more time on its post-production. For a movie about three superpowered women which is expected to take place largely in outer space, the movie will certainly be full of CGI effects.
Fans of the MCU certainly can’t get enough of the franchise, and the fact that Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is still doing solid business despite the lukewarm reviews, is proof of that, but there has to be a point of diminishing returns and fans certainly want to see these movies and shows looking their absolute best. At the same time, the people doing the work needed to be treated well. If that means slowing down the content spigot, hopefully, we’ll see that happen. Fewer movies that look amazing is preferable to seeing a lot of movies and shows that look thrown together.
