The Marvel Cinematic Universe is a very big place, but a few franchises stand out as fan favorites. For many of us who have spent years watching the Marvel movies in order, Guardians of the Galaxy is definitely on that list. The franchise as we know it wrapped with Vol. 3, and it turns out that James Gunn’s threequel set a record for the incredible number of prosthetics used in the Marvel film. I guess that’s a symptom of the cosmic side of the shared universe.
The ending of Guardians 3 saw the team seemingly live happily ever after, following their wild adventure to save Rocket and vanquish the High Evolutionary. During this movie a ton of cosmic creatures were shown, residing Knowhere, Counter-Earth, and Orgocorp. And that meant a ton of prosthetics, with makeup department head Alexei Dmitriew telling GoldDerby about the exact number. He shared:
I think it was 22,540. We might’ve missed counting a lip or something. It was over 1,000 actors with background included. And we had a cast of 60-plus, something like that.
Holy fake faces. That’s a ton of prosthetics, which included some huge group scenes where a giant sum of actors needed to be transformed into space creatures. James Gunn likes to use practical effects whenever possible, and all that hard work really paid off when Guardians 3 hit theaters over the summer.
Recent movies like The Marvels struggles at the box office, but Gunn’s Guardians 3 was a big success when it finally hit theaters. And this is partly thanks to the franchise’s popularity, and how moviegoers had faith in Jame Gunn and his team– especially those who bring the incredible makeup to life.
Guardians 3 proved what the shared universe was still capable of, and it’ll be interesting to see if upcoming Marvel movies can follow suit. While the MCU has been criticized over its visual effects, prosthetics have been praised. Later in the same interview, Dmitriew shared more about his record-breaking work on James Gunn’s movie, saying:
It was quite a few people. Not all at once, but sometimes a lot of that. Sometimes our daily number would be up to 390 people coming through our hair and makeup trailers, including background and including our cast and stunts. It was a lot.
How impressive is that? The size of this job is wild, but everyone from main characters to extras looked pitch perfect in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Unfortunately, it’s unclear if/when we’ll see these characters again, as only Star-Lord was confirmed to be returning in future MCU projects. And James Gunn is now busy running the DC Universe.
The next Marvel movie hitting theaters is Deadpool 3 on July 26th. In the meantime, check out the 2024 movie release dates to plan your next movie experience.
