Credit: Marvel StudiosWith all the talk about the ongoing Hollywood strikes lately, it was only a matter of time before other areas of the the film industry decided to use it to their advantage, including a group of creatives working for Marvel.
Arguably one of the biggest film studios under undoubtedly the biggest entertainment company, Marvel has become a machine constantly pumping out superhero film after superhero film. In the last 15 years, the studio has released 32 films and almost a dozen series, leading to complaints of supehero fatigue as Disney CEO Bob Iger claims the studio has released too much too quickly in the last few years.
This, combined with the Hollywood strikes, has caused some disruption in the studio’s lineup, with every project besides Loki Season 2 and The Marvels now facing indefinite delays. Even other shows originally slated to be released this year, like Echo and Agatha: Coven of Chaos have been pushed back and face an uncertain future.
Marvel has failed to hit with audiences on their Disney+ content, with almost every series except for Loki and WandaVision bringing disappointing performances to the studio. However, shocking news recently came out about the working conditions on WandaVision as a group of VFX workers for Marvel filed for unionization.
According to an interview IGN did with several Marvel workers, the conditions have deteriorated badly since the rise of Disney+. One of the workers said it “definitely feels more like a conveyor belt nowadays than necessarily each project being given its own thought and time,” in regards to the amount of content Marvel has released to Disney+. They continued, calling it “the McDonald’s of content.”
According to another worker on WandaVision, they were told they wouldn’t “have any more days off in the next three months until [they] deliver episode 10.’ [They] were already working 18-hour days.” Similar complaints were made about work done during Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania earlier this year. As fans complained about the poor VFX and CGI seen throughout the film, creatives complained about the rushed job they were forced to do during long hours of work.
Hopefully the VFX artists will be able to team up with the writers and actors, using the overall industry fight to help fight for better working conditions for themselves. As Marvel has officially delayed dozens of their upcoming projects, hopefully it will also allow them to figure out a better system for their artists and workers in the future.
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