Two Marvel Movies Were Nominated For Oscars In The Same Category

It has been a big year for Marvel Studios and Disney, as the Marvel Cinematic Universe got back into the swing of things after numerous delays and date reshuffles due to the ongoing pandemic. But Phase Four flourished in 2021, as the studio delivered "Black Widow," "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings," "Eternals," and of course, "Spider-Man: No Way Home." This is all without mentioning how the MCU also pushed further into the multiverse through smaller shows like "WandaVision" and "Loki," while keeping up a smaller-scale momentum with "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier" and "Hawkeye."

But when it comes to the Oscars, many fans wondered what Marvel's chances would be like in 2022. Comic book movies typically don't receive much love in the major categories, although in the last few years they've been given much more attention. Movies like "The Dark Knight," "Black Panther," "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse," and "Joker" all received significant recognition from the academy.

This year, Marvel amassed some incredible creatives to help expand the MCU, including Oscar-winning director Chloé Zhao, who helmed "Eternals." Although the new team of heroes weren't nominated by the academy, two other Marvel movies scored Oscar nods. And they happen to be in the same category.

Although Marvel Studios and Sony executives hoped "Spider-Man: No Way Home" would score a best picture nomination at the 2022 Oscars, the MCU failed to grab any of the top spots. But there is some serious competition between the best picture nominees, as "Belfast," "Coda," "Don't Look Up," "Drive My Car," "Dune," "King Richard," "Licorice Pizza," "Nightmare Alley," "The Power of the Dog," and "West Side Story" are all nominated in that category.

But Tom Holland's third solo "Spider-Man" movie did receive some recognition for best visual effects, as did Destin Daniel Cretton's "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings." Given that both films seamlessly weave CGI effects and characters into live-action scenes, they've rightly earned those nominations. "Shang-Chi" features some stunning visuals, whether it's the fight sequences involving the Ten Rings themselves, or the quieter scenes, such as the moment Wenwu (Tony Leung) reveals the mystical map to Ta Lo to Shang-Chi and Katy (Awkwafina).

"No Way Home" heavily relies on CGI throughout the film, including Spidey's (Holland) mind-bending battle with Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) in the mirror dimension. All the villains in the sequel aside from Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe) required some level of CGI enhancements, like Doctor Octopus' (Alfred Molina) mechanical arms. Not to mention the entirely CGI characters of Sandman (Thomas Haden Church) and the Lizard (Rhys Ifans).

Hopefully, one of them wins best visual effects, although they're up against the likes of "Dune," "No Time To Die," and "Free Guy." They've equally got some heavy rivals there, especially Denis Villeneuve's sci-fi epic, "Dune."