Avengers: Infinity War is one of the hottest movies of 2018. Movie fans everywhere have been eagerly anticipating the film’s release for years. Luckily, a shifting of the schedule at Disney has seen the release date bumped up one week, with the movie now hitting American theaters on April 27 rather than May 4. Yet even that has done little to quell the demand for more factoids about the movie.
There’s a sizable cottage industry within Hollywood devoted to delivering behind-the-scenes information to a news-hungry public. From the photographers who snap pictures of movie sets through a telescopic lens to the bloggers who post story spoilers, there’s a huge demand for news on the latest hot films before they hit the big screens and many sources devoted to meeting that need.
There is a risk, however, in seeking out such information. Some people have trouble enjoying a work of fantasy because they cannot let their imaginations work beyond the limits of reality. The puppet show is spoiled once you see the strings, so to speak. Such people must be cautious in seeking out entertainment news, as they might see something that could shatter their illusions, even without outright spoilers!
With that warning, here are 15 Behind-The-Scenes Photos That Will Completely Change Infinity War!
Tom Holland in a Motion Capture Suit
With this picture of several people with their mouths open and Tom Holland standing in the center stage in a dramatic pose, one could be forgiven for thinking this was taken from the set of some strange off-Broadway show during a final show-stopping musical number.
In truth this picture shows the actor who plays Peter Parker in Avengers: Infinity War in the special motion capture suit that was used for filming many of the key digital image based special effects shots, standing among the crew who make the movie magic happen.
Bulky as it may be, Holland may find the motion capture suit preferable to the skin tight suit that left little to the imagination, which he had to wear for most of the filming of Spider-Man: Homecoming.
Loki Chilling With The Mere Mortals On The Crew
In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as well as in the original comics, Loki is something of an elitist. Whereas his brother Thor, despite being a Prince of Asgard, is a personable sort who is willing to pose for selfies with fans who recognize him on the street, Loki sees everyone else as being beneath him and usually only smiles at the suffering of others.
Tom Hiddleston does a fantastic job of presenting that smug sense of contempt for the world around him when playing Loki in the Thor and Avengers films. That image is somewhat spoiled, however, by this picture of Hiddleston in full costume, enjoying a laugh while he relaxes between shots with the film crew.
Scarlett Johansson’s mini-me
“Do you see any paparazzi out there, Natasha?”
“Nope! It’s all clear, Scarlett!”
The above bit of dialogue is not meant to seriously suggest that Scarlett Johansson still plays with dolls or talks to herself. Still, it is hard not to imagine such a thing happening while looking at this picture of the actress - who plays Natasha Romanoff, aka The Black Widow - peeking around the door to her trailer on the Avengers: Infinity War set, while clutching a highly articulated action figure of her character, clad in her costume from the movie.
We can’t help be reminded of the infamous scene in Spaceballs where the villain Dark Helmet is discovered to be playing with action figures modeled on himself and the heroes of the movie.
TONY AND THANOS YUCK IT UP
There’s a lot of hype surrounding Thanos’ role in Avengers: Infinity War - and with good reason. The Mad Titan, as played by Josh Brolin, is a fearsome opponent for the Avengers. In the comics, he’s even been known to wipe out half of the life in the universe in the blink of an eye.
It’s safe to say that Tony Stark should be afraid of Thanos; very, very afraid. And yet here we have a photo of Tony’s portrayer Robert Downey Jr. with Josh Brolin - both of them all grins as they ham it up for the camera while in their motion captures suits.
It definitely breaks some of the tension about Tony’s fate in Infinity War to see Downey and Brolin cheesing for the camera.
The Hulk In All His Glory
It is unclear just why they needed a sculpted figure of The Incredible Hulk on the set of Avengers: Infinity War. It is equally unclear why the figure doesn’t have a pair of The Hulk’s trademark purple pants.
We can be thankful for one thing at least - that whoever snapped this picture of Mark Ruffalo, dressed as Bruce Banner shaking hands with his alter ego, did so from an angle that prevented us from seeing just how articulated and anatomically correct the Hulk figure might be.
It was enough to get the glimpse that we got in Thor: Ragnarok, when The Hulk was briefly walking around his suite without a towel! We don’t need to say hello to “The Jolly Green Giant” as it were!
Hawkeye’s not so graceful
When reports emerged that actor Jeremey Renner, who plays Clint “Hawkeye” Barton in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, had broken both his arms while filming a movie, fans and reporters were quick to assume that it had been on the set of Avengers: Infinity War.
Renner, an action movie veteran who had previously appeared in The Bourne Legacy, Mission Impossible - Rogue Nation and The Hurt Locker, was well-known for trying to do as many of his own stunts as possible.
Fans were stunned, however, when it was revealed that Renner’s injuries came from his filming the comedy Tag - not from anything he was doing while playing Hawkeye!
This picture of Renner, in both his casts, does little to help his tough guy image in the wake of that news.
The real Rocket Raccoon
While many fans recognized actor Sean Gunn (best known for his role as Kirk Gleason on Gilmore Girls) when he played the role of Yondu’s right-hand man Kraglin in Guardians of the Galaxy, few people realized that he also played the physical role of Rocket.
Gunn donned a motion capture suit to lend his movements to the raccoon-like alien and acted opposite the other actors on set, with Bradley Cooper’s voice being added in later during post-production.
It also hasn’t occurred to many people that Sean Gunn is related to Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn. The two brothers (pictured above on the set of Avengers: Infinity War) have been making movies together since 1996. Sean will once again be creating Rocket’s physical presence for Infinity War, with James writing some of the Guardians’ dialogue.
Top-heavy Iron Man
Robert Downey Jr. does not truly don an armored suit when he plays the role of Tony Stark. Even when he was filming the first Iron Man movie, much of the film’s effects work was done through computer generated imagery rather than filming the actor walking around in the heavy costume that was originally constructed for him.
Despite this, Robert Downey Jr. frequently wears the helmet, shoulders and chest plate of the Iron Man armor over his motion capture suit. Reportedly he felt this made his physicality all the more real. It probably also helped him to get into the right place mentally to play Tony Stark.
Even so, it’s still disheartening to see the partial pieces of the Iron Man armor being carried around like the movie props that they are.
Bring Your Kids To Work Day
There’s an old saying about how you should never meet your heroes. That seems to be true for these young fans, who got a chance to meet Doctor Strange and Tony Stark behind the scenes of Avengers: Infinity War.
The kids clearly seem a little bit uncomfortable, though it is unclear if that’s because they are suddenly in the presence of their favorite superheroes or if they’re disappointed that Tony Stark is just some guy in jeans and a sweater and that Doctor Strange - while looking freshly arrived from some manner of fight - isn’t wearing his usual robes or The Cloak of Levitation.
The actors seem to be similarly unbalanced, though the angle of this picture makes it unclear just what they’re looking at.
Mark Ruffalo In A Motion Capture Suit
Mark Ruffalo has a rather rough time of things compared to his fellow Avengers actors. While actors like Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth have spoken of the feeling of power that comes from putting on a superhero costume and handling a legendary shield or magical hammer, Ruffalo has to wear a bulky motion capture suit that becomes very hot, very quickly, in order to portray The Incredible Hulk.
Pensive as Mark Ruffalo may appear in this mirror-snapped selfie, it could be far worse. He probably doesn’t have to deal with being recognized and bothered on the street as much as the other Avengers actors since his face isn’t on screen as much. He’s also managed to avoid the annoyance of spending hours in a chair being painted from head to toe by makeup technicians.
Half-Dressed Iron-Man
The improvements in motion capture technology over the past decade have proven something of a boon to the movie industry in general and the superhero movie industry in particular. Whereas Robert Downey Jr. once had to get into a heavy armored costume in order to play Iron Man, he can now wear a relatively more lightweight motion capture suit and have the armor added in with CGI.
Despite this, the actor reportedly prefers to wear the upper body of the classic Iron Man suit over the motion capture suit as he thinks it makes the movements more realistic.
While the final results can’t be argued with, this behind the scenes picture does have the unfortunate side effect of making Iron Man look a tad bit silly.
Gamora Gets Her Face On
While actress Zoe Saldana doesn’t have as intensive a makeup regimen as other actors appearing in various movies based on Marvel Comics, it still does take a fair amount of time to transform her into Gamora. In addition to having her face, neck and ears painted green along with most of her upper body, the actress has to have special prosthetic scars glued to her forehead and cheeks before the whole affair is blended and sealed.
This picture of Saldana in the makeup chair making a pouty duck face for the camera kills the mystique of Gamora.
Not only can we see the line where the makeup application ended, but it seems highly unlikely that a proud warrior like Gamora would ever make such a silly face!
Wait a second - you’re not Tony!
It’s hard to say who looks more disgusted in this behind-the-scenes picture from the set of Avengers: Infinity War. Is it the stuntman in the motion capture suit and partial Iron Man armor, who appears to be mentally calculating the seconds until his next union-mandated coffee break? Or is it Mark Ruffalo, who is making a face worthy of Harpo Marx in his prime, as if he just found out that he wasn’t working alongside the real Tony Stark?
Joking aside, it is unclear just what is going on in this picture. Nevertheless, there’s probably some disappointed fan out there who had no idea that his favorite actors might not always be the ones in costume and that stand-ins and stunt performers are on screen more often than you’d think.
Nebula And Stan Lee
It stunned many when Karen Gillan was cast in the role of Nebula - Thanos’ more mentally unbalanced adopted daughter - in the Guardians of the Galaxy movies. Best known for her role as Amy Pond on Doctor Who, Gillan was seen as more of a comedic performer than an action star and few doubted she could convincingly play the wild Nebula. Gillan went on to prove the critics wrong and later balanced her talents for both comedic performances and action in Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle.
Despite this, Gillan looks less than far from threatening in this behind-the scenes-picture, where she struck a pose with legendary comic creator Stan Lee between scenes, while Lee was visiting the set of Avengers: Infinity War.
Lunch Break
The post-credits scene at the end of The Avengers, where we see the team breaking bread together at a Manhattan shawarma joint at Tony’s suggestion, is still probably the most beloved and funniest of the various after-the-movie sequences in all of The Marvel Cinematic Universe films.
We can’t help but be reminded of it in this scene, in which Benedict Cumberbatch, Robert Downey Jr. Mark Ruffalo and Benedict Wong are interrupted in the middle of their lunch break.
We’re fairly certain this is just the actors camping it up and not actually a preview of an upcoming scene from the movie. While Stephen Strange’s love of spicy food has been discussed in the comics, it seems more likely that Tony Stark would favor Perrier over La Croix when it comes to flavored water drinks.
Is there an Avengers: Infinity War photo we missed? Let us know in the comments!
- Avengers: Infinity War Release Date: 2018-04-27
