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- Bringing characters like Spider-Man and Captain Marvel to life on screen requires some real-life superheroes off-screen. Specialized teams and experts carefully plan and carry out the stunts, costumes, and special effects that make iconic films like the Avengers the impressive spectacle audiences love. From actual bus crashes in "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings" (2021) to detailed makeup and training in "Black Panther" (2018), here's what Marvel movies look like behind the scenes.
- Hollywood has many tricks to make impossible and dangerous stunts into a reality. Movies like "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World," "Baby Driver," and "Elf" used a Texas switch to allow an actor and their stunt double to switch places on screen without having to cut. "Avengers: Endgame" and "Men in Black: International" used wire rigs known as ratchet pulls to make it seem like characters were being hit by a serious blow. Meanwhile, a tuning fork can make characters like Maleficent and Captain Marvel look like they're flying, and a tarp known as a magic carpet gave characters in "Underworld" superspeed.
- Pixar broke new ground when it created "Toy Story" in 1995, but from there it still had a long way to go to perfect 3D animated characters. Over the years, Pixar's animators would figure out everything from proper human movement to skin to hair. They figured out how to smooth out skin in "Geri's Game." Then, when "The Incredibles" rolled around, they created new simulations to help control Mr. Incredible's muscle movements and Violet's long hair while also finding more accurate ways to light human skin. Violet's hair would later pave the way for long-haired characters like Colette in "Ratatouille" and the curly-haired heroine Merida of "Brave." Meanwhile, Pixar's shading tools would allow the animators to add even more striking details to their human characters' faces, while innovative new methods of animating crowd scenes came about in "Incredibles 2" and "Toy Story 4."
- One of the biggest challenges for Hollywood's stunt performers is creating flight that is both safe and believable. Since George Reeves portrayed Superman in the 1950s, movies and TV shows have used an endless variety of wires, pans, and other rigs to lift actors up high. The best tools depend on the type of flying on-screen. A huge breakthrough came in 1978's "Superman" when a visual effects artist discovered a way to operate the camera so that Christopher Reeve would appear to be flying even when he was lying flat. Today, many of those same wire and camera tricks are still used. However, digital doubles can make even the most dangerous flying tricks possible, while flying moves can be programmed in advance into a robotic arm, as seen in "Black Widow." Elizabeth Olsen's stunt double, CC Ice, told us about the many ways both Marvel's "Avengers: Infinity War" and "WandaVision" made Wanda Maximoff fly.