Avengers 3 is by far and away the most intense of all three films.
(PEOPLE SCREAMING)
Part of the reason why we were drawn to tell the story of Civil War
and one of the reasons why we thought
it was such a great place to leave the Avengers divided
was because we knew the greatest threat they would ever face
would be coming in Thanos.
For storytellers, you want your heroes to be at their lowest point
when they meet their worst threat.
The hardest choices require the strongest wills.
I think you'll find our will equal to yours.
JOE: This film was taking all the characters
from all the different franchises
and putting them together in one movie for the first time.
It's about as massive a production as you could mount.
We need a plan. If all we come at him with is plucky attitude...
Don't call us plucky.
We don't know what it means.
We were in production all year on Infinity War.
It's the largest global shoot we've ever had.
Joe and Anthony have the stamina to do two films, back-to-back.
It's very difficult.
- Moving on to a clean pass. - Okay, back to the other set.
Something this big isn't daunting to them.
And they're the perfect combination of structure and freedom.
Do what you want to do on this first take,
and then we'll start to tweak it from there.
The Russos elevated the franchise, even past its inception.
Who are you guys?
(ALL LAUGHING)
Sorry.
We spent a lot of time with Joe and Anthony, Markus and McFeely
creating storylines that really allow these characters their moments.
Action!
If he gets his hands on all six stones, Tony...
He could destroy life on a scale hitherto undreamt of.
Did you seriously just say "hitherto undreamt of"?
You really look at how all the characters interweave
into the main arc.
ANTHONY: The connective tissue that pulls our entire MCU together
is the fact that the Stones are spread out throughout the franchises.
JOE: The exciting aspect of the film is that
we're going to take all of these characters
from different franchises in the Marvel Universe
and we're going to put them together to stop Thanos from completing his goal.
It takes months to plan sequences like Titan.
Titan, we shot that exclusively on a sound stage.
DAN DELEEUW: Beautiful set built by Charlie Wood,
our production designer.
There's green screen in the background.
All that extension will be from plates that we went to Chile and shot.
VICTORIA ALONSO: This entire movie is one big CG scene.
The environment is CG, the weapons are CG,
every shot is dense in layers.
We were pushing colors in both locations,
more green and yellows in Wakanda,
and more orange hues and red hues in Titan,
so that we could distinguish the two as you're intercutting them.
It was a constant challenge to see, how do we keep this photographic enough?
We wanted to have that apocalyptic look that both Joe and Anthony wanted.
That it was the end of an era.
Heroes are only as good as their villain.
And we spent a lot of time and energy on this one
making sure that Thanos was the most intense and the best villain
that the Marvel Universe has seen.
We had had an initial meeting, me and the Russos,
and it was incredibly helpful.
I felt like they cared deeply.
MATT AITKEN: Thanos is entirely digital,
so we have Josh Brolin performing him on stage.
SWEN GILLBERG. We record all the positions of all their joints,
and we record their motion.
We've dotted up his face, and basically those two cameras give us
a three-dimensional solid of his face in very fine detail.
The performance is coming through,
not only in his gestures and in his face, but in his eyes.
You're much more of a Thanos.
I take it the Maw is dead.
This day extracts a heavy toll.
The battle between Thanos and Dr. Strange,
that was all previz.
And the way we work through that
is probably that sequence was twice as long as it ended up in the movie,
so we shrunk it.
Once we agree on what that sequence is,
the only element that is missing from a sequence like that
is Benedict Cumberbatch.
We'll then go shoot Benedict Cumberbatch,
but everything else is already turned over to the VFX vendors,
so they can get to work on Thanos' side of it
and everything else around Dr. Strange.
You're full of tricks, wizard.
Action sequences are very difficult.
(GRUNTS)
Every action sequence is used to illuminate character,
who the character is, what they're made of.
You never once used your greatest weapon.
(STRAINING)
A fake.
Those battles usually start with either the stunt team or the VFX team.
Yes, sir!
We owe it to Sam Hargrave to create these amazing stunts for Titan.
We got a room full of movie stars.
We've got three franchise-carrying actors here.
This is our first day.
Here we are in Pinewood in Atlanta, and it's actually pretty unbelievable.
You can actually engage in this collaborative, creative conversation
about what should this look like.
We would show them our previz material
just to let them know, like, these are the certain things
that you would be working with to get to this final product.
It's going to look awesome when Chris does it.
(ALL CHUCKLE)
JOE: Every character, every hero involved
has to use the highest level of their power
just to stay on the battlefield with him.
The big two. Thanos versus Iron Man. This is the showdown.
This is what it's all about.
This is what the whole movie's leading up to right here.
We've got Robert Downey, Jr., Josh Brolin,
going hand-to-hand, right here!
THANOS: Stark.
How do you know my name?
I know your soul.
It is much like mine, cursed with knowledge.
My only curse is you.
Iron Man has been battling for six years now
the shadow of Thanos.
He has been waiting for this moment.
(PANTING)
All that for a drop of blood.
(GASPS)
We knew we were going to a place in the story
that audiences wouldn't expect.
And then I drive him back like this,
pin him down like that...
- Yes or no? - Yeah, I like it.
It was our intent in this movie to play against your expectations.
MAN: Action!
(GROANING)
You have my respect, Stark.
When I'm done, half of humanity will still be alive.
(GROANS)
The movie sort of keeps twisting at the end there
in ways that you can't believe that it's going one step beyond,
and that the fate of our characters
and the fate of the universe are still at play.
Mr. Stark? I don't feel so good.
Peter Parker uses all of the strength that he has as a hero
to fight against disappearing.
You're all right. You're all right.
JOE: It allows him to last longer than some of the others.
The emotional experience that the characters are going through
as they experience that is where the power lies.
Please, I don't want to go. I don't want to go.
DOWNEY JR; The Russos realized how you had to bring it to the next level
and also have it have a great surprise.
(SOFTLY) I'm sorry.
D'ESPOSITO: Never seen our Avengers really lose,
and they lost, and it's quite emotional to see that.
Where is he?
McFEELY: It's a big, epic movie,
and stakes are high, with characters that, hopefully,
because since 2008 you started to love these people,
you really care about.
And that's the grand experiment.
Did we just lose?
Rarely, especially in Avengers 3,
do commercial movies go to the place that this film goes to.
Quill?
Oh, man.
Why would you do that?
DR. STRANGE: We're in the endgame now.