Speaking with Crave Online recently, Victoria Alonso, Marvel’s longtime Executive Vice President of visual effects, discussed The Avengers Best VFX Oscar nomination and teased forthcoming productions Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World, and Guardians of the Galaxy. In addition, Alonso also commented on Thanos and the Mad Titan’s rumored return in The Avengers sequel.
When Crave Online asked about Thanos, Victoria Alonso said, “Well, Thanos was mainly practical. There was a bit of prosthetic fixing that we had to do so it was not a CG character.” Whether their work on the Mad Titan was laying groundwork for the sequel, Alonso played coy: “I couldn’t tell you because we’re not working on Thanos, but for any character that is an all CG character like the Hulk, it took us, would you say 19 months? 20 months? So it’s almost a two year process from the modeling. The modeling and the rigging took forever.”
About the James Gunn-directed space epic Guardians of the Galaxy and how Marvel will tackle Rocket Raccoon and Groot, Victoria Alonso continued, “We’re going to do it the best way possible. We are going to hopefully wow [you]. The beautiful thing about it is technology is always on our side, so we’re I would say very deeply into developing the look and hopefully some motion tests are happening so that we can figure out how they move, but I think that we will put all hands on deck to make sure the fans are proud of those two characters.”
The folks at Crave Online have seen footage from director Alan Taylor’s Thor: The Dark World, considering their next question asked if there are new effects for all the soldiers the God of Thunder was seen fighting. “There are a couple of CG characters there that I couldn’t reveal at the moment but very soon I will,” Alonso teased. “I’m sure we’re going to see you soon, but there’s a lot of work in Thor because don’t forget, Thor is not of earth. So every time we’re into his world we’re in a completely different environment. [Malekith] is a real actor. He’s not a CG creation.”
Speaking about Iron Man 3 and whether there were any difficulties having the Armored Avenger in a new snowy surrounding, Alonso suggested, “No. Snow, sand, we’ve done him everywhere. We’ve done him up in the [air], we’ve done him in the ocean, we’ve done him in the sand dunes, we’ve done him in the snow, we’ve done him in the house. He’s a jet setter.” After being asked sharply how they’re doing the Mandarin’s ten rings, Victoria quipped, “Well, May 3rd we will show you.”
Marvel will release a slate of films based on Marvel characters including “Iron Man 3” on May 3, 2013; “Thor: The Dark World ” on November 8, 2013; “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” on April 4, 2014; “Guardians of the Galaxy” on August 1, 2014; the sequel to “Marvel's The Avengers” on May 1, 2015; and “Ant-Man” on November 6, 2015!