One stat that can be attributed to Marvel’s Black Panther franchise highlights a common MCU mistake concerning one aspect of the series’ superheroes.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever – and its prequel Black Panther – have highlighted a common Marvel failure through one surprising stat about the Wakanda-centric facet of the MCU. Since 2016 and the release of Captain America: Civil War, the character of Black Panther and the world of Wakanda have been intrinsic to the MCU’s overarching story. Aside from Wakanda’s importance to the broader universe, though, the Black Panther films have highlighted specific problems with the MCU’s other heroes.
One of these problems has been a commonly recurring critique of Marvel movies when concerning specific superheroes. While one of the biggest criticisms of the MCU is regarding the studios’ over-reliance on CGI, from the sets and characters that make worlds feel less engrossing to full CGI fight scenes in some cases, another problem of the MCU’s CGI is sometimes less noticeable. However, the Black Panther films prove that there’s still hope for the MCU to correct course.
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Black Panther’s Oscars Success Proves The MCU Overuses CGI Costumes
The fact in question surrounding the Black Panther films is that they are the only two in the entire MCU to receive Academy Award nominations for Best Costume Design, winning both times. This proves that the common complaint about Marvel’s CGI costumes is even greater than first realized. While CGI, nanotech-based costumes were first introduced for Iron Man and even Black Panther, these made sense given the technology-based aspects of both characters.
Get an inside look at creating the Academy Award-winning costumes for Marvel Studios’ Black Panther: #WakandaForever with Costume Designer Ruth E. Carter. 🎧 Listen to Episode 4 of @ProximityMedia’s ‘Wakanda Forever: The Official Black Panther Podcast’: https://t.co/5WCSi9wmJD pic.twitter.com/ypZgxfwWrl — Marvel Entertainment (@Marvel) March 16, 2023
However, in recent years more Marvel movies have tended to use CGI costumes – such as Captain Marvel in Endgame – that remove any sense of realism from the film. Some of the biggest “event” like moments in superhero movies prior to the introduction of CGI costumes were the “suit-up” scenes, be it the epic, momentous occasions of Iron Man donning his suit in Iron Man and Iron Man 2 or the Avengers preparing for battle in both The Avengers and Avengers: Age of Ultron. The switch from these moments to the less impactful, few-second-long scenes of superhero suits enveloping the bodies of heroes has lost all magic of the superhero costume.
This was a complaint found with Avengers: Endgame, in which the time travel suits were complete CGI. Similarly, Spider-Man’s reliance on the Iron Spider suit was also the subject of criticism for this same reason. More recently, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania fell under scrutiny for its titular characters employing this technology. While seemingly a small detail, it is worth exploring, with the Black Panther franchise’s commitment to practical, physical costuming that makes the world, characters, and culture of Wakanda more consistent and garnered Oscar recognition.
Why The MCU Is So Reliant On CGI Costumes (& Can It Fix It?)
This begs the question, then, of why the MCU is so overly reliant on CGI costumes. While it is likely undoubtedly easier on set for the actors to simply where mocap suits with specific practical elements to blend reality and fiction, the usage of CGI suits only makes the workload on already over-worked CGI artists that much heavier. Also, CGI suits are quicker in terms of shooting schedules for films like Ant-Man 3 and Avengers: Endgame. According to Wired, Marvel Studios Visual Effects Producer Jen Underdahl stated the suits were full CGI in Endgame due to the film’s tight shooting timetable.
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The question of whether Marvel can fix this issue is interesting, and it’s definitely possible. Since the return of Bob Iger as Disney’s CEO, rumors surrounding Marvel Studios have hinted towards the studio striving for quality over quantity once again, giving each project more filming and post-production time to fix the many issues that plagued Phase 4. With that said, the MCU could move back to more practical elements, hopefully taking a page out of the crew’s book for Black Panther and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, namely multiple Oscar-winning costume designer Ruth E. Carter.
