the cinema of Marvel sweeps the box office but not in the Oscar. It makes sense that this happens, since they are films designed as mass entertainment, something that the Hollywood Academy does not usually reward. In fact, ‘Black Panther’ is the only MCU adventure that has been nominated for best picture. However, the real curse of Marvel is in what should be its star category.
I’m sure many of you have taken for granted that several Marvel movies have won the award for best visual effects. It is a logical assumption, since his films have an undeniable spectacular component, but the truth is that not a single film in this universe has achieved this award.
Background
So far, 23 MCU movies have fully competed in that category and only 10 of them have been nominated, but all of them left empty. Let’s review what happened to each of them.
Among the 13 other movies that weren’t even nominated, both ‘The Incredible Hulk’ and ‘Thor’, ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’, ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ and ‘Spider-Man: Far From Home’ did not even pass the pre-selection of candidates. They did manage to pass it and then run out of nominations ‘Captain America: The First Avenger’, ‘Thor: The Dark World’, ‘Ant-Man’, ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’, ‘Captain America: Civil War’, ‘Ant -Man and the Wasp’, ‘Black Panther’ and ‘Captain Marvel’.
The situation ahead of the next Oscars
This year the studio has the opportunity to break this curious curse, as it has managed to get both ‘Black Widow’ and ‘Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings’, ‘Eternals’ and ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ to exceed the first cut. It was the first year with four MCU movies and It’s a good first step, but that doesn’t guarantee anything at all.
For now, not even half of his films have managed to be nominated and this year it is likely that at least some of them will also be left out. Keep in mind that there are only five nominees and that the other titles that have made the cut They are ‘Dune’, ‘Free Guy’, ‘Ghostbusters: Beyond’, ‘Godzilla vs. Kong’, ‘Matrix Resurrections’ and ‘No Time to Die’.
A priori, ‘Shang-Chi and the legend of the ten rings’ and ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ are the ones that start with more options, but the favorite today is still ‘Dune’. His victory would help prolong this Marvel curse for another year…