It's been months since the release of Avengers: Infinity War, and the fandom hasn't stopped reeling from the film's wild events. The Russo Brothers combined the behemoth shared universe's characters for an epic battle against Josh Brolin's Thanos, which spanned multiple planets. While most of the marketing material for Infinity War was related to the insane Battle of Wakanda, there was also a smaller but equally thrilling sequence over on Thanos' home planet of Titan. Featuring some of the MCU's biggest heroes, the motley crew nearly separated Thanos from his Gauntlet. A new video goes behind the scenes of filming this scene, which looks epic even before the visual affects.
How cool is this? While the finished product had pulse pounding action and one major misstep by Chris Pratt's Star-Lord, the filming itself was equally exciting. With an all-star cast and plenty of wire work and motion capture, The Russo Brothers really had their hands full when crafting this epic Infinity War scene. And peeking behind the curtain makes the finished product all the more successful.
Rather than the dialogue or epic standoffs, the above video mostly focused on filming the actual action of Thanos' confrontation with the Avengers and Guardians. There is a ton of wirework shown, all of which was invisible when the completed film hit theaters in April. Throughout the sequence, Star-Lord uses his jets when charging at Thanos, Iron Man flies, characters are attacked, and Doctor Strange uses his abilities to transport the fighters all around the field. All of this must be done in post, resulting in a complicated and long shoot for what's ultimately only a few minutes of onscreen action.
Another interesting aspect of this behind the scenes video of the Titan Battle is how Josh Brolin actually filmed his scenes as Thanos. Brolin was physically on set, acting with his co-stars while motion capture technology recorded his every facial expression. But the rest of the cast couldn't make eye contact, instead being forced to look up at where Thanos' eyes would eventually be. As such, Brolin wore a contraption with a Thanos head far above his own, adding an extra layer of confusion to the already complicated scene.
Noticeably missing from the video is Benedict Cumberbatch, despite Doctor Strange's involvement in the Titan sequence. Benedict Cumberbatch's schedule was notoriously bad during the filming of Infinity War, as he was appearing in a stage play. Many of Strange's scenes had to be shot by a stand-in, with Benedict Cumberbatch's face and performance eventually edited in during post. Given all the CGI that already needed to happen in Infinity War, its not like they didn't have the budget.
Avengers: Infinity War will be available for home purchase on August 14th. In the meantime, check out our 2018 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.
