Movies

13 Times Bad CGI Made Marvel Movies Look Stupid

Marvel is famous for its insane CGI. Every time a Marvel movie comes, every fan is sure that it will contain CGI laden action sequences to die for and visuals that could give the best of Hollywood a run for its money. Special Effects are Marvel Cinematic Universe’s strong suit. Or is it? There are times when even the strongest of us fall. And Marvel is no stranger to that fact. Presenting – 13 times bad CGI made Marvel movies look stupid!

 1. The Black Panther climax fight scene

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This was bound to make the list. Black Panther had some spectacular visual effects but there were plenty of times where the movie failed to meet fans’ expectations. It was one of the highest grossing superhero movies ever and was Marvel’s highest grossing individual superhero movie. The movie did possess its flaws though. When Killmonger and T’Challa decide to trade fists in the climax of the movie, the CGI was particularly flawed.

 2. Peter Dinklage’s Eitri in Infinity War

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When it was revealed that the greatest TV actor ever is going to appear in Infinity War, fans lost their shit. Peter Dinklage is a household name now for his role as Tyrion Lannister in Game of Thrones. But then Marvel screwed it up. It turns out, the scenes featuring Rocket, Groot, Thor, and Eitri were all shot separately. The scenes were then combined and rendered via special effects. And the difference in contrast and sharpness was evident and the fans complained.

 3. Thanos’ Outrider army in Infinity War

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The army of the strongest being in the Universe must also look and feel intimidating enough. The Outrider army that fought Wakanda and the Avengers in Infinity War was anything but. The way the Outriders suddenly burst into the scene and were completely uncoordinated in their attacks looked very sad, to be honest. Their design and CGI was also hap-hazard.

 4. Thor fights the Destroyer

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This bad CGI moment does not have enough bad CGI as much as it has lazy writing in it. When the Destroyer comes for Thor Odinson’s day of reckoning, it looks like shit is finally about to hit the fan. But Thor deems himself worthy and returns to his role as the God of Thunder. The fans expected an epic fight scene between Thor and the Destroyer. What happens next is a stupid hurricane scene where the CGI is so bad it will make even the most diehard of Marvel fans cry. We expected a lot more from this fight. We got a lot less.

 5. The Vibranium bullet trains in Black Panther

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There is a reason this fight scene pops up so many times in the list. The movie will always be remembered as a cinematic masterpiece but there were a lot of flaws that we just could not unnoticed even if we wanted to. The Vibranium Bullet train in the final Black Panther fight scene was one such example. The fight itself looked like it was straight out of a video game. The trains that passed by when the two Panther brothers were fighting it out also looked artificially cooked and the fans could notice that it was just added to the fight scene rather than have the sequence built around it.

 6. Dormammu in Doctor Strange

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Doctor Strange was nominated for an Academy Award for its splendid Visual Effects. It rightfully deserved to. But that does not exempt it from that fact that Doctor Strange faltered at the right moment for everyone to notice a gaping hole in its CGI map – Dormammu. Everything in the movie CGI-wise looked so perfect. But Dormammu looked like a disco ball with a lazy concept design. The comics show him as a powerful being that possessed more than just a head projecting psychedelic lighting.

 7. Iron Man’s Infinity War armour

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Every time Tony Stark came into the picture in each new MCU movie, he had a new suit in hand for the occasion. Infinity War was no different. In fact, Tony Stark had saved his best and coolest creation for the very Endgame.

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Even though the concept was cool, able to use nano-bots to keep the Iron Man suit under your skin and able to summon it out whenever you want it to. But the CGI execution was bad. The fact that the fans knew that Iron Man was not part but completely CGI also did not help. Then there was the case of the sunlight reflecting off of his chest plate that looked so bland and unnatural, to begin with.

 8. Black Panther Rhinos

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Black Panther had a lot of good things and a shitload of bad things. The Rhinos definitely take the cake. There have been a lot of movies that have been able to CGI render creatures with amazing accuracy. Black Panther was surely not one of them. The Rhinos in the movie were an example of Bad CGI taken to a worse level. It would have been overlooked if the rhinos were kept in the background. But Marvel has to show one of those things up close where the audience could take a closer look and point out the holes in the visual effects by themselves. Marvel dug its own hole for this one.

 9. Extremis in Iron Man 3

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This was one bad case of super laziness on Marvel’s part. Iron Man 3 took a lot of creative U-turns when it came to the choice of villains and the general storyline. The villain this time was Aldrich Killian, who heads A.I.M and is empowered by the Extremis Virus – a nanobot serum that grants its users superhuman physical and regeneration abilities. But the way the movies showed these powers was pure evil. Apart from that, there was also the scene where Aldrich uses the Extremis virus to literally spew out fire like a dragon.

 10. Thanos in Infinity War

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No matter how much they try to do it, Marvel just fails to make their villains act and look compelling enough. Marvel tried to break tradition with Thanos, a villain they decided to completely render via CGI for the big screens. They tried hard but failed again. While in the post-credits and mid-credits scene, Thanos’ unpolished CGI could be forgiven, but in a movie like Infinity War, there was just no way fans could overlook the way Marvel did injustice to the role of the Mad Titan. Josh Brolin did a terrific job as Thanos. But what was lacking in Thanos was not the acting but a good enough CGI team.

 11. Ulysses Klaue’s Arm in Black Panther

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When it comes to Bucky, Marvel has done a terrific job in CGI rendering his bionic arm. Bucky’s silver arm flawlessly and seamlessly fades into the background along with the rest, which makes it look extremely realistic even while the arm is interacting with other objects. Klaue’s arm is just plain sloppy in both design and visuals. Either Marvel decided to just wing it or they did not pay enough heed to Klaue’s role in the movie. If the latter part is true given Andy Serkis’ brilliant performance as Klaue, this would be an utter crime against humanity!!!

 12. Hulk in Thor: Ragnarok

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The Hulk was one jarring example of Marvel deciding to bat the eye and let it slide. The Hulk got a major upgrade after Eric Bana and Edward Norton’s portrayal of the character. But with more money in the bank, the MCU decided to focus on others and let the Hulk’s CGI go down the drain.

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In Thor: Ragnarok, a movie that has probably the best visual effects in the entire movie set that the MCU has to offer, the Hulk’s CGI is especially bad. Moreover, since Marvel did a terrific job with the Hulk’s CGI in Age of Ultron, we know that they could do better. But sadly this time, they decided not to.

 13. The landscape of Wakanda in Black Panther

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It gets worse. Black Panther has more entries on this list. Wakanda was a vivid and cool concept. A nation that is so advanced that it has left the 21st Century far behind but is hidden amidst the poor countries of the African Continent. When the movie begins, we see Wakanda in all its glory for the first time when the Panther dropship enters the holographic forest cover and into the Wakandan Capital.

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And here’s the thing – the CGI of the skyscrapers and the train lines looks so bad that they could relate to old 2000 era video games. The reason for this is widely claimed to be underpaid, overworked Marvel employees that are working to meet the tight work schedule of the Mouse House.

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The last movie to be released under the Marvel banner was Ant-Man and the Wasp. The official film synopsis for the movie reads:

Scott Lang is grappling with the consequences of his choices as both a superhero and a father. Approached by Hope van Dyne and Dr. Hank Pym, Lang must once again don the Ant-Man suit and fight alongside the Wasp. The urgent mission soon leads to secret revelations from the past as the dynamic duo finds itself in an epic battle against a powerful new enemy.

Bibhu Prasad

Do I really look like a guy with a plan? You know what I am? I'm a dog chasing cars. I wouldn't know what to do with one if I caught it! You know, I just... do things
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