The Avengers - Special Effects

A film that required half a decade of solo prequels to build character ( in the case of Iron Man, literally), The Avengers was released last year to enormous box office success. A movie that combines all of Marvels greatest superheroes in the ultimate culmination of action and geekdom. As the previous movies have already introduced the characters, the film takes off with a running start and incorporates special effects throughout it's entirety very well.

 Seeing as the film is based on comic book heroes with super powers brought to life on the big screen, a large company with computer animated experience was required to provide the special effects. Enter Industrial Light & Magic, a company with a grade A track record of special effects in some of the biggest blockbusters including Iron Man 1 and 2, Transformers 1, 2 and 3, Rango and Star Wars Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith to name a few.

Using various software tools alongside green screens and live action movement from the actors and actresses, Industrial Light & Magic created a special effects experience like no other that not only caused The Avengers to become one of the worlds highest grossing movies, beaten only by James Cameron's Avatar and Titanic, but also won the Academy Award for Best Special Effects.

One of the biggest challenges in The Avengers was animating The Hulk. A by product of a nuclear radiation gone wrong, The Hulk was perhaps the most difficult character to animate due to his size and nature.