Is Pip the Troll's rushed CGI symptomatic of an MCU problem that extends beyond just Eternals? Directed by Chloé Zhao, Eternals shines a light upon the MCU's godlike Celestials - a topic previous movies have merely scratched the surface of. At Earth's center is a Celestial seed ripening to sprout, and the Eternals' job is ensuring that process goes smoothly. Having become attached to our planet, however, they rebel, halting Tiamut's Emergence. Come Eternals' final credits, the trio of Thena, Makkari and Druig are heading out to help other Eternals realize the truth, but out of nowhere, they're joined by Harry Styles' Starfox and his companion Pip the Troll, who's constructed entirely from CGI and voiced by Patton Oswalt.

Ask any superhero skeptic about their biggest comic book movie bugbears (or just mention Marvel within 5 meters of Martin Scorsese), and overuse of CGI is the answer you'll most likely receive. Blockbuster action franchises such as the MCU and DCEU have become increasingly reliant upon visual effects, and in any single frame, backgrounds, characters, weapons, and facial hair can and will be rendered digitally. The superhero genre's CG criticism only gets louder when behind-the-scenes set photos invariably contain little more than a swathe of green walls surrounding an A-list actor who's standing alone in the center wearing a cape.

Related: Eternals Breaks Marvel's Standalone Movie Rule

CGI in Marvel movies is so liberal because technology has advanced to a point where the results are fantastic 99% of the time. The only way a comic book creation as inventive and striking as Jack Kirby's Eternals translates into live-action is through leaning on teams of talented VFX artists, whose magical hands craft virtually anything the human mind dreams up. As the CGI bar continues to climb higher, incidences of bad digital effects stand out like Thanos in a family photo. And this is where the MCU finds itself with dear Pip the Troll in Eternals.

Pip Didn't Need To Be In Eternals' Credits Scene

Eternals mid credits Eros Starfox

Eternals' mid-credits scene is an important addition to the MCU - and not just for One Direction fans. Set on the Domo, the bonus sequence establishes Thena, Makkari and Druig are actively hunting other Eternals, then introduces Harry Styles' Starfox to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, dropping big hints that Thanos' brother is something of a Celestial specialist, since he knows where Arishem has taken Sersi, Kingo and Phastos. As wonderful as having Patton Oswalt in the MCU (again?) may be, Pip the Troll adds nothing to the scene beyond comic relief and exposition.

Pip draws some hearty laughs as he trips over Starfox's introduction speech, and his careless bumbling pops any tension aboard the Domo's deck perfectly, with this drunken, crude creature the furthest thing imaginable from Starfox's regal charm. Pip the Troll is also handy for providing audiences with a quick Wikipedia intro to Starfox himself - tidbits that would've sounded forced coming from Harry Styles' mouth.

Make no mistake though, Pip the Troll is just garnish atop Eternals' mid-credits salad. Starfox could've emerged from that portal alone, announced himself as Thanos' brother, then revealed he knew where Arishem was holding Sersi and the others, and the sequence's overall impact would've been uncharged, with expectant theater-goers gleaning the same vital snippets of setup for Eternals 2. With all due respect to the MCU's very first troll, Pip is peripheral, and dropping him would've wrought few consequences.

Related: Eternals Perfectly Flips One Of The Best Actor Trends Of The Last 5 Years

Eternals Rushed Pip's CGI - And It Shows

pip the troll in a post creds scene in eternals

Eternals is undeniably a very good-looking film. Having found Oscar success with Nomadland, Chloé Zhao drenches her MCU debut with gorgeous natural landscapes, chaotic global disaster shots, and beautifully futuristic sci-fi interiors for the Domo and World Forge. Eternals' CGI, meanwhile, is at least on par with the high standard Marvel has set. Kro and the Deviants might serve little purpose to the actual plot, but they're solid-looking villains nonetheless. Eternals' gargantuan Celestials invoke the desired sensations of foreboding and intimidation, and Sersi's matter transmutation is a spectacle to behold. Ikaris flies as convincingly as any other movie superhero from recent years, and when Thena constructs magical blades from cosmic energy, you'll believe Angelina Jolie can slice a Deviant in half.

More or less every digital moment in Eternals looks suitably smooth and predictably pretty... but then along comes Pip the Troll. Ruining the VFX party, Pip looks parachuted into Eternals from a completely different (and significantly less expensive) franchise. Pip's proportions are wonky, there's no real texture or depth, and the troll's facial expressions are severely limited, leaving viewers wondering whether Marvel accidentally included an older, work-in-progress version of the mid-credits sequence in Eternals' final cut. Even taking into account his limited time on screen, Eternals' Pip the Troll doesn't come close to previous digital characters from the MCU, and might just be the ugliest thing Patton Oswalt has ever lent his voice to. That's saying something for an actor who played The Deep's gills in The Boys season 2.

Pip the Troll's aesthetic woes are not lost upon Eternals' VFX supervisor Stephane Ceretti, who describes Pip's creation as a "challenge" to complete in time, whilst also diplomatically admitting the character didn't look his best, saying, "We did what we could. It turned out okay... It is what it is." According to Ceretti and WETA digital VFX supervisor Matt Aitken, Pip's Eternals inclusion was a last-minute call, leaving the CGI artists very little time to craft a troll from scratch.

Eternals' Pip Being Rushed Makes Marvel's CGI Problems Worse

Bruce Banner in the Hulkbuster in Avengers: Infinity War

Eternals' Pip the Troll design - and the last minute rush-job that made him so nasty to look at - betrays larger problems within the MCU's production machine. The vast majority of Eternals looks polished, professional, and in-keeping with the visual tone Marvel fans have become accustomed to over 14 years. So, when Pip the Troll arrives looking like something from a PlayStation 2 cut-scene, the entire movie's ocular palette is undermined. Marvel fans know more than most how movies don't stop when the credits start rolling, so the introduction of an amateurish and dated CG character in Eternals' final moments undermines the visual reputation of the entire film. That's not necessarily fair, as not only does Pip tarnish 2-and-a-half hours of impressive work from an array of VFX artists, but said VFX artists were forced to deliver a Pip they clearly weren't 100% happy with because the assigned time frame was never realistic - all to include a character who, as we discovered earlier, has no measurable impact upon Eternals' story.

Related: Eternals: Ikaris’ Flight Resolved An Old X-Men Movie Problem

Rushing Pip the Troll before he was fully-cooked isn't an isolated incident. After largely escaping criticism throughout Phase 1, the MCU's increasing interest in CGI is giving rise to visually-awkward oddities including Mark Ruffalo's head in the Hulkbuster armor, or Thor: Ragnarok's Norway sequence. Like Pip in Eternals, these are types of effects we've seen Marvel execute flawlessly in films gone by, so why do all three look incredibly suspect?

Perhaps the underlying issue isn't limitations of CGI in blockbuster movies, but calling upon visual effects as a band-aid for last-minute changes of direction. We know the aforementioned Thor: Ragnarok scene looked bad because a New York City alleyway was digitally swapped for Norway, while Mark Ruffalo's weird floating head could've been another late change, since the trailer version of that scene featured Hulk in his green monster form. Pip the Troll is just the latest example of Marvel treating VFX artists as a license to make last-minute alterations, but producing grossly unconvincing results. If Eternals needed a last-minute dose of troll, why not cast an actor in the role and use practical perspective effects to make him look smaller next to Harry Styles? The results couldn't have been much worse than what hasty CGI managed.

More: Eternals Proves Avengers: Endgame Was An Anomaly In The MCU

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