What is Marvel Studios being criticized? Several previous MCU films have been panned for their subpar visual effects. And now we may have a clearer notion of why some images appear so incomplete or unrealistic.

Some iffy images have been appearing increasingly regularly in Marvel Studios films and Disney+ series in recent years. However, this is hardly exclusive to these films or to the FX industry.

It’s hard to disagree with those who believe that a picture with a reported budget of $250 million or more should have superior visual effects, as seen by the newest Marvel Cinematic Universe film, Thor: Love and Thunder.

The fact that visual effects workers are now refusing to collaborate with Marvel owing to the pressure of meeting unrealistically short deadlines lends credence to the belief that the studio rushed post-production, resulting in the unfinished/less realistic-looking scenes.

Many creatives (and someone at insurance) have turned to Reddit to vent about the stress and unachievable expectations that have led to subpar work. Although the jobs at Marvel Studios pay well, several employees have refused to work for the company again out of principle.

[deleted by user]
by invfx

As of this writing there are currently 196 comments expressing empathetic and conflicting opinions. Among those who empathize, @samvfx2015 shared about their experience on the Thor set and the over-demanding requirements:

On THOR they ask for a complete mini sequence 2 or 3 weeks before deadline by that I mean from scratch model texture animate light and fix that shit in comp.

@BadAtExisting shares how they tore their ACL while on the set of the upcoming Black Panther: Wakanda Forever 5 days before they “hurt the actress” calling the experience with Marvel “always a shit show”:

I tore my ACL on Wakanda Forever 5 days after they hurt the actress. At the time I was set lighting. I’ve since switched departments to VFX. Can 100% confirm being on Marvel’s sets is also always a shit show

Over the course of @statusvfx many years in the insurance industry, their worst cases have almost always included Marvel films. The Reddit user calls the company their worst clientele because of their unending stream of movies, coupled with the boundless resources they have as a result:

“Marvel movies have been nearly all my worst experiences working in comp for the many years that I have. The unlimited money they have and the power they get from this combined with their endless lineup of movies have made them the worst clients out there.”

The user assures the readers that they stay from Marvel. They further criticize the studio for poor planning and excessive bureaucracy throughout the approval process:

“I avoid Marvel shows like the plague now having had my fill of them. They are ALWAYS without doubt a miserable working experience. I can cope with OT, but its the wasted time, work and effort that is lost to bad planning and too many voices in the approval process.”

@raistlinuk calls Marvel out for having gotten worse over the years and that it took them a very long to get over the exhaustion:

They’ve gotten pretty bad. It took me months to get over the burn out from the last marvel show crunch I did. I try and avoid them at all costs now.

It will be fascinating to see what becomes of this. However, it should be noted that it is not the first time the Marvel Studios has been criticized for creating subpar circumstances for visual effects professionals. The folks at Marvel and Disney haven’t replied to these remarks yet.