Thunderbolts*

Led by VFX Supervisor Mat Krentz, Framestore’s Melbourne studio created a fully digital lab environment. First seen early on in the film, Florence Pugh’s character Yelena destroys the site on ‘clean up’ orders from corrupt CIA Director Valentina Allegra De Fontaine. The Thunderbolts return to a version of the lab later in the film, while exploring the memories of their new friend and teammate, Bob. 

Bob’s recollection of the lab is controlled by his malevolent alter-ego, Void, who pins all of the Thunderbolts to the back of the room by throwing objects at them and melding them to the wall. Void then expands the environment to separate Bob from the Thunderbolts, before the lab begins to break down and crumble. Creating the space digitally allowed for complete creative freedom in terms of camera movement, destruction simulations, and interactive lighting, while seamlessly blending CG with live-action elements. “During the fight scene, the room grows four times as long and starts to fall apart,” explains Krentz. “The ability to dynamically extend the environment while maintaining photorealism was a significant achievement for the visual effects team.”

Yelena breaks free from the debris pinning her down, and attempts to reach Bob through the crumbling lab to help him - running, jumping and sliding around lab equipment and falling pieces of ceiling. “To nail this part of the sequence, it was essential to build the lab in CG, to be able to put the camera anywhere in the environment and have a photoreal background,” says Krentz. “Our environment had to take into account any additional photography too - instead of rebuilding the whole set for another shoot, we could augment some shots on a partially-built stage with our digital recreation, making every set piece and prop in 3D to match the original before we start destroying things.”

Framestore’s VFX teams were tasked with developing the super-powered style of Bob’s flying powers, working closely with the filmmakers to establish a visual language for Bob’s flight. “We needed a way for him to be visible, even when moving quickly or far away from the camera,” expands Krentz. “So we looked at building a trail for him, we experimented with vapour and fire and other ideas before landing on the final effect.” 

Bob’s first flight takes him straight up into the air, before he crashes back down into the mountain below, sending ripples across the terrain and military base camp. This sequence consisted of full CG shots, including digital crowds, a digital double for Bob, FX streaks, ground impact and debris.

“We also added some smaller details to the military costumes, adding in CG visors to the practical masks,” says Krentz. “It’s subtle details like that, combined with the full CG shots and the practical stunts that made Thunderbolts* so much fun to work on, it’s an amazing blend of practical and CG.”

Thunderbolts* presented MCU fans with a new villain; The Void, whose dark shadow spreads over New York City. To explore how best to turn NYC dark, Production VFX Supervisor Jake Morrison engaged Framestore’s Visual Development team. “We had a very open brief and explored a huge range of ideas,” says Global Head of Visual Development Owen Jackson. “It was an extremely collaborative process with Jake Morrison, narrowing down those ideas and distilling them into something with a wonderful simplicity and physicality. As part of the Director's creative vision, we designed effects with a grounded and realistic tone. The effects had to feel physical and 'real world'.”

The Void also possesses the ability to turn people into shadows on the ground, which challenged the VisDev team with creating a new superpower effect. No stranger to this process - having done the same with spaghettification for Disney+ series, Loki - the VisDev team worked through visual references to invent some ways to turn 3D people into 2D shadows. “Being flexible and creative was really important for this particular process,” explains Jackson. “We’re creating something the MCU hasn’t seen before, so we need to be constantly examining new ideas and experimenting with new possibilities. Working with Jake was great, and I’m so proud of the quietly terrifying final result seen in the film.”