Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is being heavily criticized due to its VFX issues, a problem that poses a bad sign for the Marvel Cinematic Universe's Phase 5 & 6. While Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is the latest MCU release to get complaints related to the franchise's use of CGI, the MCU has been going through a rough patch where its VFX is concerned for quite a while. In fact, a large portion of the negativity towards the MCU's Phase 4 can be attributed to how poorly Marvel has handled its VFX issues.
Now, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania was supposed to make the MCU's Phase 5 look better than Phase 4; however, the movie started Marvel's new chapter by falling short of expectations. Critical reception for the Ant-Man trilogy finale has been poor, with popular review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes currently holding the movie at 49 percent, just above Eternals in the entirety of the MCU's movie ranking. While the MCU has been going through VFX issues lately, a new report showed that Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania had a number of behind-the-scenes problems that are a very bad sign for the MCU's Phase 5 & 6.
Quantumania's Behind-the-Scenes VFX Issues Explained
While the recent MCU Phase 4 has been known to include a number of VFX issues, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania's VFX problems were explained by artists who worked on the MCU Phase 5 debut movie, and what they revealed is not only alarming to the current state of the MCU, but also to the future of the cinematic universe. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania was meant to turn the tide for the MCU after a divisive Phase 4, but as a comprehensive behind-the-scenes report from Vulture showed, Marvel itself played a role in the movie's poor critical reception.
Two VFX artists for the movie — who appeared with fake names on the report — disclosed some interesting details of the subpar conditions of the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which was also in post-production. Even worse than that, VFX artists were forced to work "80 hours per week for months" in order to meet the movie's short deadline. The Ant-Man movie needed to have scenes reworked or cut altogether due to the lack of time or money to get them right for release. One worker blamed the situation on "human greed."
How Future VFX Issues Can Affect The MCU's Phase 5 & 6
One VFX artist on Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania also sounded the alarm regarding Marvel's recent bad VFX pattern — as Thor: Love and Thunder's CGI looked bad, like Black Widow and most Phase 4 movies and TV shows before the new Ant-Man movie — saying that "the quality starts lacking" with the sheer number of Marvel projects being worked on at the same time, and the money not being spent to hire the appropriate number of VFX artists to bring the MCU to life.
As the MCU moves into Phases 5 & 6, this matter becomes more pressing than it was during Phase 4. The recently concluded MCU Phase 4 presented mainly self-contained stories which focused on developing smaller characters or introducing new heroes to the MCU. However, with 2025's Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and 2026's Avengers: Secret Wars ending the drought of no movies for Earth's Mightiest Heroes, the thought of those two huge events presenting lackluster CGI is something that could doom the MCU. Marvel Studios needs to start making some changes and make them fast.
What Marvel Studios Needs To Change To Improve The MCU's VFX
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania's behind-the-scenes VFX issues need to be solved for all future MCU releases, and the easiest way of doing so is for Marvel Studios to slow its roll. The MCU's acclaimed Infinity Saga covered Phases 1-3 and consisted of 23 movies. Now, The MCU's Multiverse Saga has already released 17 projects over two years during Phase 4. After Phase 5's debut, Marvel can improve Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania's way of operating for future projects, and it appears that the change has already begun.
Following the return of Disney CEO Bob Iger to his role at the Marvel Studios parent company, which he had been during the MCU's highly praised Infinity Saga, the executive has begun making some changes to Marvel's content output. While Marvel used to only release movies, the creation of Disney+ allowed the MCU brand-new opportunities, including the ability to use TV shows to flesh out ing characters and also introduce new heroes that would then the movies. There were some production issues, though, and the new MCU Phase 5 show release plan aims to up the quality with shows being sparsed out, helping solve Marvel's VFX issues.
Marvel Delaying The Marvels Release Date Is A Step In The Right Direction
Marvel is showing that the studio has learned the lessons from Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania's VFX issues and is actively taking a step towards correcting those problems for the MCU's Phase 5 & 6. Following the recent shift in strategy regarding Marvel's content output on Disney+, with the studio slowing the pace in which shows are released in order to give each project more time to breathe, Marvel appears to be making a similar decision regarding the MCU's movies. The first hint of that is The Marvels being able to fix any problems related to its VFX before release due to Marvel delaying the movie from July to November.
The Marvels' delay was announced on the day Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania was released in theaters. The decision is a step in the right direction, with Marvel allowing its projects more time in post-production so that the recent trend of lackluster CGI can be left in the past. The Marvels is specifically a movie that needs to have a level of care in its VFX, as the film unites three heroes in Captain Marvel, Ms. Marvel, and Monica Rambeau, for what should be a CGI-heavy adventure that connects to the MCU's cosmic side. Marvel is now showing that Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania changed the company for the better.
