Marvel Studios Called Out by VFX Artist for Having 'Bullying Power'

There's no doubt that behind every single MCU project that we're watching, there are also hundreds of VFX artists that are working to bring some of the imagery to life and make us believe that we're seeing our favorite superheroes in action. Unfortunately, their hardwork also comes with a price as revealed a while ago by VFX artists who shared their frustration on working for an MCU project.

Now, an anonymous VFX artist recently shared on Vulture their experience on working for an MCU project where they called out Marvel Studios for having "bullying power" as a client and how they are getting "pixelf*cked" because of the nitpicks and feedbacks that they received from them.

"When I was working on one film, it was almost six months of overtime every day. I worked seven days a week, an average of 64 hours a week on a good week," the VFX artist shared. "Marvel really works really hard for you. I’ve had colleagues sit next to me, collapse and start to cry. I’ve talked to people with anxiety attacks on the phone."

The VFX artist also called out the studio for requesting a lot of changes in the process (some of them are drastic) and, as a result, they become more overworked due to the tight deadline that they have to commit. They also revealed that one VFX house was blacklisted by the studio when they failed to finish their work.

"The other thing about Marvel is that it is famous for asking for a lot of changes in the process. So you’re already overworked, but then Marvel asks for regular changes that go way beyond what every other customer does," the VFX artist noted. "And some of those changes are really drastic. Maybe a month or two before a movie comes out, Marvel will have us change the whole third act. It has really tight turnaround times. So yeah, it’s just not a great situation all around.

They continued, "One visual effects house couldn’t finish the number of shots and reshoots Marvel requested, so Marvel had to give my studio the work. Since then, that house has effectively been blacklisted from getting Marvel work."

The VFX artist suggested in the end that a possible solution to the ongoing issue is the unionization of the VFX artists to "help ensure that the VFX houses can’t take bids without having to think about what the consequences would be." They also acknowledged that it is a universal issue that also happens in other projects, but it just happens that Marvel has a "bullying power" to demand a lot.

It's always unfortunate to hear stories like this that would hopefully get resolved by both Marvel Studios and the VFX houses that they're working with, especially now that they have dozens of projects in their slate that are coming in the next few years and will require a lot more VFX works.

Also Read: Avengers: The Kang Dynasty Found Its Director With Shang-Chi Filmmaker

Stay tuned for more news and updates regarding the MCU projects.