Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/526878
m ay . j u n e 2 0 1 5 c g w 2 3 t wasn't that long ago when Marvel decided to launch its own movie studio and turbo-boost the Avengers comic-book heroes by first releasing the hugely successful Iron Man film (starring Robert Downey Jr.) in 2008. Grossing more than $318 million, it was the birth of a franchise that then led to the release of The Incredible Hulk, Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger, and several sequels, before culminating in Marvel's The Avengers in 2012, which grossed more than $623 million. With numbers like those and groundbreaking special effects work from some of the industry's leading studios, why wouldn't Marvel give the Aveng- ers another go 'round? In its latest offering, Aveng- ers: Age of Ultron, Marvel and Director Joss Whedon captivate audiences once again, leaning heavily on visual effects by studios that include ILM and Trixter, among others, as well as previs and postvis work from The Third Floor. In addition to creating a captivating cast of characters, visual effects artists built stunning digital environ- ments that play an equally important role in the story. ILM: HULK, IRON MAN, ULTRON PRIME, DESTRUCTION ILM's San Francisco, Vancouver, London, and Singapore studios contributed 800-plus shots featured in Avengers: Age of Ul- tron, making the facility one of the film's largest VFX vendors. The film challenged ILM with further developing the Hulk and Iron Man characters they had worked on for past releases, as well as imposed brand- new challenges, including the creation of Ultron and helping to carry out the villain's grand plan to destroy a European city by ripping it from the ground. T H E H U L K According to ILM VFX Supervi- sor Ben Snow, the Hulk appears 50 percent more in Age of Ultron than in the prior Avengers film, and he is more agitated. "[He's] not really himself," says Snow. "He's an amped- up version, so one of our first tasks was to make him a more extreme and crazed-looking version. Joss likened him to someone strung out on drugs." ILM, says Snow, set the bar high, working to improve on an already well-received character. "It was like, how do we push this even further to make it more believable and a more realistic performance? We thought a lot about doing that and worked with Mark Ruffalo so he could help us on set, performing the character for some of these quieter moments. Also, we re- built his technology. The design of Hulk was largely the same, albeit angrier and more strung out. We essentially doubled the resolution and rebuilt him from the inside out. We made a full skeleton and skull, which he hadn't had in the past. We rebuilt the muscle system to more correctly drive his surface, rather than be a simulation tool. We took the sculpting we did in the past and rebuilt his muscles, so once we layered the flesh and skin simulation on top, he would look the same, but you ILM BUILT THE HULK, HULKBUSTER SUIT, AND ULTRON PRIME FOR THE LATEST AVENGERS FILM. I