Marvel Studios has been one of the more consistent ones in the industry to churn out top-notch content, earning billions at the box office and keeping the powers above at Disney happy with all the moolah raked in. The past couple of years, however, has seen a few chinks appear in the seemingly impregnable armor of the studio, with its releases being accused of using clunky visual effects and poor CGI.
Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania (2023) had raised a lot of hopes pre-release but fell pretty flat after it hit theatres. The movie was a pivotal one in the Multiverse Saga, introducing Kang the Conqueror in MCU movies. It was, however, not well accepted, with fans calling out poor visual effects and CGI in the movie, and VFX artists claiming that the studio pressed them inhumanely for results, causing poor output.
Marvel takes aim at Victoria Alonso over VFX scandal
Someone had to pay for the VFX scandal allegations, and it seems like the studio has gone after Victoria Alonso, longtime president of physical production, post-production, VFX, and animation at Marvel Studios, stripping her of her job. The move to fire the top creative, who worked directly under chief creative officer Kevin Feige, came as a surprise to several within the MCU as well as fans and the industry outside it.
One senior VFX artist has dismissed reports of Victoria Alonso creating a toxic work environment for Marvel VFX artists.
Additionally, 3 different up-and-coming MCU actors anonymously agreed that Alonso was a very supportive force on set.
(Source: https://t.co/rd1jMqtwt6) pic.twitter.com/yEAg325cuL
— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) March 23, 2023
Alonso has been with the studio since 2006, a good three years before Disney showed interest in it and two years before Iron Man (2008) hit the theatres. Alonso has been a bastion of proclaiming diversity at Marvel, being one of the few openly-LGBTQ women of color in a chief executive position. However, there had been some complaints against her recently for singling out VFX artists to blame for the lack of progress of work at the studio. Whether they amounted to the eventual sacking of Alonso or not is unclear.
Internet comes together for Victoria Alonso
The reason behind firing Victoria Alonso is unclear, as neither Marvel nor her own representative has confirmed or denied anything. Be what may be the truth, the internet seems to have come together in unparalleled support for the VFX top boss.
Congress needs to form a committee and investigate Marvel immediately.
— 𝓲𝓼𝓷𝓽𝓭𝓪𝓿𝓮𝓸𝓷𝓮 🫶 (@IsntDaveOne) March 23, 2023
Some went out of their way to castigate Marvel.
not shocked, they needed someone to take the heat off the vfx scandal and they used her.
— not ben (@misterrmisery) March 23, 2023
I honestly think she’s just being used as a scapegoat. All these years alonso was present during marvel’s rise to becoming a millon dollar franchise. I get phase 4 had dodgy vfx and a ton of complaints from vfx workers but there could be other issues behind the scenes.
— anakin (@nehaxslays) March 23, 2023
As many as three up-and-coming actors, who preferred to remain anonymous, told Variety that Alonso was a very supportive presence on set.
"up and coming actors"? They don't want to be identified? Shouldn't that tell you enough?
— Sylki Anti (@sylki_anti) March 23, 2023
I designed and created Gamora's planet sequence environment from non existing concepts, got direct feedback from Victoria on client calls and barely no changes or notes, and she was always nice to work with. How many times do we need to say that the issue is NOT #MarvelStudios
— Daniel Anton Fernandez (@dantonvfx) March 23, 2023
Others on Twitter agreed that even if she was part of the problem, she wasn’t the only one causing it.
This whole thing just sounds weird. She's part of the problem but it isn't just her it's Feige and other execs too.
— Manlike_omz (@likeOmz) March 23, 2023
Alonso’s exit will not affect Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023) which is scheduled for a May release. Her replacement, however, will be tricky to find for Marvel, noting that she was responsible for a lot of work in several fields on MCU sets at once.
Source: Twitter
