10 Times Marvel Sabotaged The MCU

It goes without saying that the MCU is heavily reliant on visual effects to bring various components of its stories to life. These fantastical characters and worlds need filmmaking that goes beyond the limits of practical effects, and that is where CGI and pre-visualization come in.

All this said, it is clear that the MCU's planning of visually complex set pieces years before their actual filming has been off-putting to various directors. Filmmakers such as Lucrecia Martel and Xavier Gens (of The Swamp and Gangs of London fame, respectively) turned down offers to work in the franchise due to the fact that they would have no control over the action sequences.

In addition to scaring off potentially interesting directorial talent, the overreliance on pre-vis means that the vast majority of MCU films feel uncomfortably similar in their third act, with CG armies and other tired, unappealing visual tropes. Some MCU films feel stylistically conflicted due to their big battle scenes feeling overproduced compared to their smaller set pieces feeling positively run-of-the-mill in comparison.

This could be remedied by including directors in the process from its onset so that the films feel more stylistically coherent and consequently, the directors' sensibilities will be more pronounced.