Marvelmania
Addressing the MCU’s film quality over recent years
STELLA SCHNEIDER / ASST. A&C EDITOR / THE USD VISTA
The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) first began with the release of “Iron Man” in 2008. 15 years later, the growth of the Marvel franchise has only gained momentum. With a total of 31 feature length films, two short films and nine television series, fans of Marvel have a great deal of content to choose from, with more on the way.
“Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” is the third installment of the “Ant-Man” trilogy and the first film to join the Marvel franchise in 2023, thus far. Still in theaters, “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” was released on Feb. 17 and will be available on the Disney+ platform on July 8 of this year.
With the release of this film and other content on its way, conversations around the quality and the amount of content being released by Marvel have resurfaced among Marvel fans.
Disney+ was founded at the end of 2019, and because most streaming services have established production companies and Disney+ is new to the scene, their goal was to push as much content as they could onto the platform to compete with other major streaming services, and as a result, Marvel employees felt the pressure for time. While Disney+ is producing more originals for the service, they already provide the content from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, National Geographic and more.
Soon after the release of this streaming service, a surplus of Marvel related content was sent to production.While there was a need for ample content for Disney+ to stand a chance against other big streaming companies, many questioned how its rapid growth would impact the quality of the MCU.
A source who has worked with Marvel for the past decade spoke with The USD Vista about their experience and is remaining anonymous as they plan to work with them again in the future. They opened up about how the founding of Disney+ affected the production of content for the MCU.
“There was a big push by Disney with Marvel to get material on the platform… Over the years it’s changed drastically from doing one to two movies a year to three movies a year and three streaming shows a year. I think when you do a business model like that, things suffer, because of lack of oversight or too much content to control,” they expressed. “That being said, Marvel puts out some unique and [enjoyable] content, but at a certain point the amount of it gets overwhelming.”
Requiring abundant content for the Disney+ platform has rushed multiple films and television shows to the screen. Debates came to both social media and Marvel fans at USD about the idea of quality vs. quantity in the MCU.
USD junior Pinak Lalitcumar, a fan of Marvel, expressed concern over the current production of the Marvel franchise.
“I think they are deviating from making good stuff and are throwing out random movies and shows to have content,” Lalitcumar explained. “They are bringing characters that don’t have much to do with everything into their stuff, just so they have more things coming out.”
Recent content caused contention online as people pondered the quality of the editing and the treatment of Marvel’s post production staff.
With many articles coming out about the treatment of their staff, most specifically their VFX artists, fans are learning about the effort it takes to add the explosion or the villian to the screen.
In interviews conducted by Vulture, multiple visual effects (VFX) artists spoke out about refusing to sign new contracts with Marvel to do new VFX after working on recent films and television shows in the franchise. Many of those interviewed expressed dissatisfaction in the long hours and the low pay; Marvel often pays 20% below the industry standard for VFX.
In other interviews or articles released about the issue, there are also strict expectations for what each project should look like, restricting creativity and expecting perfection of their vision from each artist.
Some students speculate that the overworking of Marvel VFX artists contributes to the downgrade in quality.
USD junior Madi Wyatt has watched Marvel for years now and ponders the pressures of VFX artists to put out content.
“I think because of the small timelines they have and the changes expected from them, it’s difficult to put out all the content expected of them,” Wyatt explained. “I read about a lot of them leaving projects because of the demand, and honestly I would do the same. It’s too much pressure.”
Marvel Studios addressed this concern, and president and primary producer Kevin Fiege is looking for a way to alleviate this issue. However, it has already left a mark on work produced over recent years.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Fiege announced, “the pace at which we’re putting out the Disney + shows will change so they can each get a chance to shine,” in an effort to give VFX artists more time to work and for audiences to catch up with the current rate of production.
Wyatt reflects on recent content from the Marvel franchise, more specifically, the numerous television shows the brand has produced.
“I’m not necessarily a fan of the shows they’re doing. I think they are overkilling it with how many they make, it takes away from the original stories,” Wyatt expressed. “I feel like the overall quality is definitely not as good as the original ‘Avengers’ and ‘Iron Man’ movies.”
Lalitcumar also had a take on the many Marvel series being produced over recent years.
“They are not exploring characters very well in the series. It seems like they are just using the episodes to hype up what’s coming up next.”
Kevin Feige has announced the slowing of production in coming years. This means that many films and shows expected in Phase 5 of the Marvel franchise could be released later than originally anticipated.
“With all the content out there, audiences are getting more in tune with what is good and how good the quality should be,” the anonymous source from Marvel said.
With “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” to be released on May 2, 2023 and more content on the way in coming years, Marvel is making an effort to repair their relationship with both fans and employees after recent years.