Just a few days ago, news broke that top Marvel executive Victoria Alonso parted ways with the juggernaut film studio after working with the brand for 17 years. Alonso was integral in building the Marvel universe having been an executive producer on many MCU films. She has been there since the beginning as a co-producer on the first Iron Man back in 2008. This past week, it’s revealed she had been fired from her position as president of physical production, post-production, VFX and animation.
Despite a few hiccups, Marvel has been a well-oiled machine at creating a shared universe on a scale which hasn’t really been seen before. Usually, DC and Warner Bros. are making headlines with behind-the-scenes drama with the studio. Now, Variety expounds on the situation surrounding Alonso’s sudden and shocking exit. It’s been a recent revelation on the horrid working conditions that the many CGI artists face on these big-budget special effect-heavy movies. Being on specific schedules, they would be constantly overworked, understaffed, and deliver subpar work due to deadline shifting. And Alonso was singled-out as a “kingmaker” who has been known to blacklist artists who have “pissed her off in any way.”
One such visual artist who wishes to remain anonymous has come forward with details of their experience, “The show I was on really struggled because it was an established character whose powers they were reconceiving for the MCU.” And despite its reputation of having a thorough business plan, chief complaints of the artists stem from the notion that “Marvel doesn’t figure shit out beforehand.” It’s been evident from the complaints about the visual effects in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania that something might actually be off when the same company was able to produce such visual accomplishments as Thanos’ animation.
According to Variety, Quantumania “finished shooting over a year before it was due in theaters and still weathered repeated criticism for “generic” visual effects that looked like “CGI glop” and were “very flat and cruddy-looking.” Quantumania would become the first Marvel film that is struggling to break even during its still-going theatrical run. Having grossed $463 million globally to date, this marks the worst performance of an Ant-Man film. With Bob Iger returning to the house of mouse to rearrange things, some shake-ups were to be expected. However, such a big name getting shafted might very well hold water on all the claims.