Who would’ve believed that ? After a decade of reigning supreme over the world of superhero movies, ridiculing its main competitor, the DCEU, in the process, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is today at the heart of an unprecedented crisis. In fact, the media variety And The Hollywood Reporter reported that Victoria Alonso, head of the special effects branch for 17 years at Marvel Studios, was fired at the behest of Disney through co-chairman Alan Bergman. According to the comments reported by the two American sites, Victoria Alonso was caught off guard, not expecting this sudden decision. We obviously do not know the exact reason for this forced departure, but several elements are pointed out, starting with the critical and commercial failure of Ant-Man and the Wasp Quantumania. The first MCU Phase 5 film was indeed critically murdered for its poor quality special effects, following what happened with Phase 4, which was also heavily criticized for its quality SFX and VFX. lesser since the end of the Endgame era.
While Marvel is consistently represented in the media by Kevin Feige, the studio’s creative mastermind, our capped business geek isn’t alone in leading this big business. At his side, we find Victoria Alonso, a name that is not familiar to you, but internally, it is a woman who has been feared for many years, as many testimonies relate. Responsible for the special effects division for 17 years, she notably participated in the first Iron Man, Captain America First Avenger and Thor first of the name also. Films whose special effects were praised for their quality and which contributed to the reputation of the MCU. But with the arrival of the Disney+ platform, the pace of work has accelerated, even forcing the MCU to produce more and faster to offer content for Disney’s SVOD service. Many artists have also denounced their working conditions in recent months, saying that the rates were becoming hellish, which caused this drop in quality of visual effects.
The management of Victoria Alonso was also strongly criticized when in January 2022, an artist on condition of anonymity had testified to the site Vulture of the unscrupulous methods of Victoria Alonso. According to the employee in question, Victoria Alonso would have established a blacklist in order to note the names of all the people unable to meet the deadlines imposed by the studio. Charges that were immediately dismissed by Marvel officials. However, Victoria Alonso also had a major role within Marvel and Disney in general, since she is one of the officials who stood up in favor of representativeness and inclusion within the works of the MCU. She is indeed known to have rebelled against a homophobic law promulgated by the Republican governor of Florida by affirming that she would fight for the representation of minorities as long as she is in post at Marvel Studios. Positions that earned her to be named as one of the most influential Hispanic women in 2019 and 2020 by People magazine in its Spanish version.