We’re living in a time where computer generated images are at their peak in terms of their quality. After all, they’re pretty much a staple of any and every blockbuster movie released nowadays. This year alone, we’ve had three movies from the Marvel Cinematic Universe released; Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War, and Ant-Man and the Wasp, all of which feature an absolutely incredible amount of CGI.. What’s surprising about all three of these most recent films, is that the visual effects within them are not always consistent. In fact, if anything, they’re quite inconsistent.
Looking back at the rest of the movies in the MCU doesn’t exactly make one completely confident that the CGI is as great as it could be. This is somewhat surprising given the fact that these films have insanely bloated budgets that could, theoretically, afford the best of the best. Part of the reason why some of the effects in these action movies aren’t on par with other movies is that they are all on a very tight schedule in terms of release.
However, aside from these glaring CGI issues in movies as popular as Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War, there is also an incredible amount of visual achievements in the MCU. Although this list spends more time on some of the issues some of us have chosen to overlook, it will also pay attention to a couple of the MCU’s strongest visual effects.
Without further ado, here are 14 Times Crazy CGI Hurt MCU Movies (And 6 Times It Saved Them).
20. Hurt: Black Panther Fight Scenes
Without a doubt, 2018’s Black Panther is not only one of the most successful superhero movies of all time, but one of the most successful movies ever. Audiences flocked to the theater to see a big blockbuster headlined by an almost entirely black cast. It was a monumental achievement for equality and diversity in the motion picture industry; however, there are still many miles to go. With the great success of this movie, one would think that it would have better visual effects, but that’s not the case throughout.
The fight scenes where Black Panther and Killmonger duke it out in their suits are particularly troublesome.
In fact, they look like a well-designed video game– hardly blockbuster worthy.
19. Hurt: Peter Dinklage In Infinity War
It’s no secret that Peter Dinklage acted alongside small cut-outs of Thor, Groot, and Rocket for his scenes in Avengers: Infinity War. This helped the award-winning Game of Thrones actor realize his unusually enormous size in comparison to the God of Thunder, as well help the filmmakers get his proper eye-line.
Thor, Groot, and Rocket were shot separately and then added into Dinklage’s scenes afterward. The backgrounds for these scenes were also added in after shooting. In theory, this should have worked as it certainly is the norm for scenes along these lines, but it all looked like a jumbled mess. The massive Dinklage looked ridiculous beside Thor, and none of the images seem to be rendered all that well. This is probably one of the reasons why fans were split on Dinklage’s role in the film.
18. Saved: All Of Spider-Man’s Suits
Back in the days of Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man Trilogy, the suit that Peter Parker wore when he became the New York City web-slinger was actually something that Tobey Macguire had to put on. In Spider-Man: Homecoming, however, the suit was mostly CGI. Even the baggier version of Peter’s Spider-Man costume had to be digitally generated, but fans were ecstatic at the debut of the comics-authentic suit in Captain America: Civil War.
At the end of Spider-Man: Homecoming and into Avengers: Infinity War, he was given a robotic suit by Tony Stark that also paid homage to a suit from the comics: the iconic Iron Spider armor.
17. Saved: Reality Manipulation In Doctor Strange
Although Doctor Strange has a number of visual effects issues of its own, it is one of the most consistently strong movies in the MCU in terms of quality CGI.
The most incredible use of digital effects in the film is used when reality is being manipulated by the characters, or while they’re in different dimensions.
Some of the scenes are somewhat reminiscent of Christopher Nolan’s film Inception, but they take Nolan’s ideas to a completely new level that didn’t feel like a direct rip-off. In fact, the visual effects in the film are seen as the most inventive in practically any superhero movie. Even though Doctor Strange has many scenes that are completely computer generated, others are shot in-camera and merely enhanced. This is why it works so well.
16. Hurt: Thanos’ Army In Infinity War
In short, the completely computer-generated army that Thanos used to attack Wakanda in order to retrieve The Mind Stone in Avengers: Infinity War were completely unconvincing. Not only did they seem to appear out of nowhere with little context or backstory, but they also looked rough.
Their design didn’t seem all that unique or engaging.
It’s arguable that they didn’t really need to be, they just had to fight on Thanos’ behalf, but even the fighting itself felt fake. These creatures didn’t interact with the ground the way an animal of their size would. Unlike the orcs in The Lord of the Rings films, this disposable army didn’t even seem like a physical threat.
15. Hurt: The Airport Scene In Civil War
However entertaining the airport scene in Captain America: Civil War was, it did have some major issues. Firstly, the small line-up of heroes on each side just couldn’t match up to the vast conflict from the Civil War arc in the comics.
Secondly, the digital effects in this epic scene just weren’t up to par with some of others in Captain America: Civil War. The lighting in the scene felt strange, the airport itself was obviously entirely a matte, and the characters themselves did not seem not well constructed. This was kind of a big issue since the scene was almost entirely done with CGI.
14. Hurt: Vibranium Trains In Black Panther
As beloved as Black Panther undoubtedly is, it does appear a couple times on this list due to some of the poorest uses of CGI in all of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Among the worst offenses in this film is the fight scene in the Wakandian Vibranium mines. Not only do the protagonist and antagonist look like video game characters, but so does the entire world around them.
In particular, the Vibranium trains that they’re constantly dodging didn’t seem to actually interact with the space around them. If anything, they appeared to be completely added in after the fight scene was shot. Though that is obviously the practical filmmaking reality of scene of this nature, we shouldn’t notice it.
13. Saved: Skinny Steve Rogers In Captain America
Before Steve Rogers took the Super Soldier Serum that made him into a nearly indestructible adonis, he was a scrawny 97-pound weakling. This made it impossible for him to register to fight in the Second World War. His desire to stand against the armies of evil despite being physically unable to endeared us to him.
A number of masterful digital FX were used in tandem in order to make this look appear realistic. Firstly, for about 5% of the shots, Chris Evans’ face was digitally attached to a body double. At other points, his entire head was placed on his body double. The majority of the time, the visual effects department shrunk both Evan’s body and face. The result was an absolutely ingenious creation.
12. Hurt: Dormammu In Doctor Strange
Doctor Strange has some of the best visual effects in all of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and was even nominated for an Academy Award because of it. Just because it has some pretty awe-inspiring FX moments, doesn’t exempt a particularly big flaw. Not only was the outrageously powerful dark cosmic entity known as “Dormmamu” a silly last-minute plot devise within the film itself, but he was also poorly designed.
He felt quite lazy in comparison to everything else in the movie.
The somewhat “trippy” visuals added quite a lot to Doctor Strange and set it apart from most other superhero films. Instead of Dormmamu coming across as yet another mind-bending addition, he just looked like a bad ’80s blacklight poster.
11. Hurt: Iron Man’s Suit In Infinity War
It makes perfect sense to have Tony Stark find ways of making his Iron Man suit sleeker every time he recreates it. The nanite suit that he revealed in Avengers: Infinity War was downright cool and made sense for the character who wanted to be able to change into his suit at any location or time. Unfortunately, it made him look like a well-designed video game character instead of a real, living, breathing person as he has in previous movies.
This was pretty distracting to the audience, who were well aware that he was a complete visual effect.
Everything from the way his metal body moved to how it reflected light seemed like an utter fabrication. This hurt the movie as it took us out of the action.
10. Hurt: The Rhinos In Black Panther
Life of Pi, Ang Lee’s Oscar-winning masterpiece, had groundbreaking visual effects, especially when it came to creating animals from scratch that looked and felt utterly real. It was even difficult to pick out which of the background animals were visual effects or not. The same can’t be said for Black Panther. Though the film’s rhinos were heavily featured, they never looked remotely life-like.
Perhaps if these rhinos were kept in the background during wide-shots, they’d appear somewhat believable, but that wasn’t the case. Instead, the filmmakers chose to feature them in extreme close-ups. One moment even depicted a rhino’s snout as it came up close to a character in order to lick her. The result was cringe-worthy.
9. Saved: De-Aged Tony In Civil War
It’s debatable whether or not Captain America: Civil War’s backstory for Tony Starks parents was a believable story choice or not. However, it was hard not to enjoy the flashback scenes that depicted a young Tony interacting with his parents. Anyone who has been a fan of Robert Downey Jr. will undoubtedly admit that this visual effects creation was a spot-on look-a-like.
Any uncanny valley issues were explained in-story by the flashback being a technical creation of Tony’s.
The team behind this particularly magical moment were also those behind de-aging Brad Pitt in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Thankfully, they were involved to help make this scene hit home.
8. Hurt: Claw’s Arm In Black Panther
There’s a big difference between the bionic arm of Bucky Barnes’ Winter Soldier/White Wolf and that of Ulysses Klaue. Although Klaue’s arm looked realistic when he wasn’t using the weapon contained within, the moment his arm burst open to reveal it, it became clear that this was a sloppy visual effect that wasn’t worthy of the story being told, or Andy Serkis’ performance.
In the defense of the visual effects team, this is a pretty silly gimmick to give a villain– even one as bombastic and strange as Klaue. On the other hand, Bucky’s arm almost always looks realistic, even when it’s physically interacting with other characters.
7. Hurt: Extremis Powers In Iron Man 3
Iron Man 3 made a lot of different story choices that made it stand out amongst the films in the MCU. The film’s villains were powered by Extremis, an adapted version of the techno virus from the comics. These powers were seen in several characters, including Guy Pierce’s Killian Aldrich, James Badge Dale’s Savin, and even Gwyneth Paltrow’s Pepper Potts.
While the concept of these powers is cool, the execution was not.
Unfortunately for the movie, Guy Pierce breathing fire like Charizard was just as sloppy as the effects in The Last Airbender. Pepper’s moment of heroism could have been way more awesome if properly executed.
6. Hurt: Hela’s Fight Scenes In Ragnarok
Hela from Thor: Ragnarok, as played by Academy Award winner Cate Blanchett, had an awesome look, with a costume that combined CGI and practical elements perfectly. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for her fight scenes throughout the film.
Her action sequences were also a little jarring as they were too clearly made up of CGI. For close-up shots, all appeared fine, but the moment she took on Thor in a wide or jumped through the air to take out an entire army, the effects appeared sloppy and unconvincing. If we ever see Hela in the MCU again, hopefully this is rectified.
5. Saved: Action In The Winter Soldier
Captain America: The Winter Soldier contained 2500 VFX shots and although it’s arguable that not all of them were 100% convincing, the vast majority were incredible and worked well within a story that was doing just fine on its own.
Industrial Light and Magic handled about 900 of the visual effects shots in the film.
The rest were split up amongst several other VFX houses. A lot of work had to be done to create skylines and backgrounds due to filming restrictions in Washington D.C., where the movie was shot. The most impressive use of CGI came in the moments where it was only used to enhance what already existed in-camera, such as the scene where Steve Rogers pulls back an entire helicopter with his bare hands.
4. Hurt: Thanos
Avengers: Infinity War made Thanos into a legitimate threat despite him looking like a discarded raisin is a testament to the script and their abilities. Still, it’s very unfortunate that the biggest villain in the galaxy, as well as the protagonist of the film, was depicted this way. In fairness, it’s pretty impossible to adequately portray a character like this as everyone knows he’s either going to be completely CGI or covered in prosthetics.
Perhaps the Russos wanted to avoid using make-up on Josh Brolin’s Thanos to prevent him looking like Oscar Isaac in X-Men: Apocalypse. Since his first appearance in Avengers, Thanos has progressively appeared more realistic and better rendered into his real environments, but he still just doesn’t convince.
3. Hurt: Wakanda In Black Panther
Black Panther flips stereotypes on its head by hiding a state-of-the-art civilization amongst impoverished African countries. While the writing back this up, the civilization isn’t remotely convincing visually.
None of Wakanda’s ships, buildings, trains, or even the skylines appear realistic at any point during the film.
This is because very little sets or miniatures were used as a skeleton for the CGI to be used over-top. Everything was created from scratch. Some reports suggest that it’s not just laziness that’s contributing the recent decline in quality visual effects, but it’s that the workers may be underpaid and overworked in order to meet the tight studio deadlines.
2. Hurt: Hulk In Ragnarok
What exactly happened between Avengers and Thor: Ragnarok that made the Hulk so visually unconvincing? He certainly got an upgrade from his earlier appearances in Ang Lee’s Hulk and The Incredible Hulk starring Edward Norton. In fact, the Hulk that appeared in Joss Whedon’s Avengers felt pretty realistic, especially since he spent most of his screentime alongside real-life actors such as Scarlett Johansson and Chris Hemsworth.
The quality of Hulk’s CGI slowly deteriorated through Avengers: Age of Ultron and plummeted in Thor: Ragnarok. Although Thor: Ragnarok has a colorful and flamboyant visual style, it would have been far more effective if Hulk appeared more human throughout the film. This would have made it less jarring when he was sitting beside Thor and looked like an obvious CGI creation.
1. Saved: Original Iron Man Suit
In many cases, the originals are better than what comes after, even with the evolution of style and technology. This can definitely be said of Jon Favreau’s first Iron Man movie and the suits used in the film. Much of Tony Stark’s suit was created using CGI, but some significant pieces were physical so that they would move naturally as well as scuff and not appear overly clean.
The design of the suit itself felt far more realistic in comparison to the suits from the newer movies, which appear flat and washed-out.
The use of imperfections in Iron Man’s suit is part of the reason we bought it in the first place. It contributed to the tone of the first film and helped to make it such a great start to the MCU.
Which CGI moment do you feel hurt or saved the MCU? Let us know in the comments below!
