The end of the Infinity Saga came with the release of Avengers: Endgame, which set a benchmark for visual effects in the industry. Thus, it was a wise choice for Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige to rely on the Visual Effects President of the company Victoria Alonso to keep raising the bar of the industry with breakthrough techniques and stellar visuals to bring imagination to life. But it seems like along the way, the vision was lost somewhere.
Coming towards the end of Phase 4 of the MCU, fans witnessed the company’s first major setback related to the quality of VFX that was on display starting from Eternals, that continued to the end of Phase 4 with most of the films that came out after, even seeping into Phase 5 with Ant-man and The Wasp: Quantumania. Seeing the poor performance of the franchise, it seems like the president had to make a bold and tough decision.
Did Kevin Feige Have No Other Choice But To Fire VFX President Victoria Alonso?
With the advent of Marvel Studios in the industry, the thing that set the company apart was the visual spectacle mixed with the compelling story that spanned over a decade while succeeding to make an emotional connection to its audience through its films and characters. But as the end of phase 4 neared, it seems like the VFX part of the equation could not keep up with the rest of the company standards, which led to shoddy work being published, and later criticized by the public. Thus, it seems like Kevin Feige couldn’t help Victoria Alonso even when he wanted to.
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After seeing the sub-par quality in Marvel’s Eternals as well as other films and TV shows like Moon Knight, the company had a meeting of executives including Disney’s CEO Bob Iger and co-Chairman Alan Bergman, who decided to drop the long-time VFX and Production president after a long discussion with legal and human resource departments. Since the audit was conducted with little prior knowledge, it seems like Kevin Feige couldn’t do much about the situation but take a step back and let the higher-ups do their job.
But many people and some inside sources speculate that while the Marvel Studios CEO could’ve done something to stop her termination, it can also be the fact that he let it happen because he was frustrated with the consistency of Alonso’s below-grade work and execution. Even with the start of Phase 5, fans noticed lapses in the VFX of Ant-man and The Wasp: Quantumania, something that the company could not afford after the poor performance at the box office as well as critical reviews. Although these are mere rumors, there can be the possibility of such reasons being true.
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Where Did Marvel Studios Go Wrong?
After the release of Avengers: Endgame, the expansion of the MCU became a rapid flood of new titles in the form of new films and web series for the Disney+ platform. This expansion came with a heavy tool on the company as they release a total of 17 projects within the last two years compared to their earlier track of a maximum of 4-5 projects a year. Thus, the workload at Marvel Studios skyrocketed, and the urgency to deliver on its promise without proper management might have been the reason that the company is facing such issues at the moment.
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Ant-man and The Wasp: Quantumania, now in cinemas
Source: Variety
