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■ ■ ■ ■ Visual Effects Thirteen studios around the globe create the digital effects for Captain America By Barbara Robertson Within the superhero genre, Marvel Comics characters from the fi lms Iron Man, Th e Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, and Th or share a fi ctional cinematic universe, with char- acters from one fi lm occasionally appearing in, or referencing, another. Th e latest entry in this Marvel universe is Captain America. Directed by Joe Johnston and distributed by Paramount Pictures, Marvel Studios’ Captain America: Th e First Avenger is set in the 1940s during World War II. Chris Evans stars as Steve Rogers, a 98-pound weakling rejected by the U.S. Army for regular duty but recruited for a secret mission. Once physically enhanced and transformed into Captain America, he fi ghts Hitler’s henchman, Th e Red Skull (Hugo Weaving), who leads the evil HYDRA organization. It’s early in the Marvel universe: Captain America parachutes behind enemy lines by jumping out of a plane owned by Iron Man Tony Stark’s father. Although Captain America’s story is all-American circa 1940, the production was a 21st cen- tury global eff ort. “Captain America, brought to you by the world,” laughs Chris Townsend, visual eff ects supervisor. “We had 13 studios working in Germany, Australia, the UK, and the US, and we shot it in England. I’m English, but Captain America is the fi rst fi lm I’ve worked on in my home country. Th ere is some irony in all this.” Double Negative in London was what visual eff ects producer Mark Soper calls the “cornerstone vendor,” and that studio created most of the hard-body assets—the tanks, planes, and trains— and many environments. Framestore, a second Soho studio, began the work on Red Skull, who is missing his nose, and then when the number of shots overtook the time the studio had available, CAPTAI WORLD OF THE Actor Chris Evans plays Steve Rogers, who in the fi rst third of the fi lm is so physically weak that the army rejects him for regular service, but later recruits him for a secret mission. He then becomes Captain America, the fi rst Avenger. The wimpy version of Evans is a visual effect, added to the shot at left. At right is the original fi lm plate before the effect. Images courtesy Paramount Pictures and Marvel Studios. ©2011 MVLFFLLC. ©2001 and ™ Marvel. 16 June/July 2011