Thunderbolts*, directed by Jake Schreier, arrived in theaters May 1st, 2025, following a lineup of Marvel operatives turned uneasy team. It blends grounded espionage thrills with comic‑book spectacle—think cloak‑and‑dagger meets superhero showdown.

DP: Ryan, Thunderbolts* doesn’t exactly “whisper” visually. When Marvel called, what was the scope of work that landed on your desk—and what made you say “yes”?

Ryan Wilk: Digital Domain has collaborated with VFX Supervisor Jake Morrison on a few projects, so when he asked us to join the show, it was a no brainer for us. The scope of sequences this time around were a bit less flashy or grand than our usual fare (at least by Marvel standards). We were asked to help on two primary sequences, the vault fight and elevator shaft escape. Both sequences are quite grounded in their action (think Jason Borne rather than Captain America), but there was still quite a lot of VFX lifting to be done, it just may not be obvious to the viewer initially.

DP: Marvel films have a reputation for being VFX-heavy, but also iterative. How early was Digital Domain involved—and how much changed between first concept and final comp?  

Ryan Wilk: We started our asset builds in the spring of 2024, so pretty early on. We then got news that the studio wanted to show a good chunk of our sequence at Comic-Con, which landed in July 2024.  This really turned up the heat, but the silver lining is we got to finalize quite a few of our assets and successfully establish the visual vocabulary of the Ghost phasing effect. Please don’t ever tell marketing this, but the Comic-Con push ended up really helping us establish things for the final film.

In regards to things changing between concept and final comp, usually, that is quite the journey on Marvel films. But this time things were fairly stable on our sequences. Of course, there were changes and creative exploration, but even if you go back to the original previs and stunt vis, they are quite similar in spirit to the final edits. Our previs team actually collaborated closely with director Jake Schreier, providing a clear visual blueprint early in the process, with a focus on fast and iterative development that supported his creative vision. This included mapping out the continuous progress of an early version of the elevator sequence.

DP: This vault isn’t your average storage space—more like a brutalist trap disguised as a filing cabinet. When you first saw the previs, what was your reaction to the creative and technical ambition of this sequence? 

Ryan Wilk: Early in the bidding phase, when you see a sequence like this you always ask yourself “this is cool, but how much can they actually shoot”?  Typically on Marvel films, our first impulse is to build everything from floor to ceiling. Be prepared for all CG shots. Make sure those walls are ready for destruction in case Hulk comes crashing in for a cameo (joking, that was never mentioned).

But on this film from the beginning, creatively (and budgetarily), the filmmakers had a plan to shoot these grounded action sequences, introduce the primary characters of the film and use VFX to really punch up the intensity and dynamics of the fight. And that held mostly true. We built out the vault floor fully in CG, along with some hero props and boxes. But we didn’t do a floor to ceiling build. For the extensions needed (hallways and higher ceilings), we used a DMP with a Nuke projection setup.

DP: Give us a sense of scale—how many shots did Digital Domain handle for Thunderbolts*, how big was your team, and how long were you on the project?

Ryan Wilk: We ended up producing 160 shots in the final film, and around 200 if you factor in marketing versions. We started on the show in Spring 2024, so almost an entire year. Team size varied across the schedule, but about 200 people touched the show in one capacity or another.

DP: The vault sequence manages to stay physical, while hiding hundreds of digital tricks. How did you approach the VFX so that it never shouted “look, we’re CG”?

Ryan Wilk: To stay grounded, our mantra became less is more. From spark hits to explosions, we would often start big and find ourselves dialing things back before approval. In cases where a heavier CG hand was needed, i.e., full digital doubles, we iterated heavily in animation to make sure the physics and motion of the characters didn’t jump out as implausible. And our hard surface & digi-double assets were top notch, so our CG renders really integrated seamlessly into the final product (with some help from comp, of course).

And finally, we could always go back to the plates. Even when replacing a character, we had a live-action reference to dial towards. The filmmakers stood by the photography they captured, so we were not pushing things around unnecessarily.

DP: Did real-time tools like Unreal Engine or LED wall setups play any part in your VFX planning, or was this all traditional plate-based post?

Ryan Wilk: Traditional plate-based post for our sequences.

DP: That vault set was 100 feet long. You extended it digitally with vents, walls, and connecting hallways. Can you walk us through how you scanned, rebuilt, and extended the space?

Ryan Wilk: Production used LiDAR to capture the set, which we then cleaned up and used for our needs. The hallways, vents and upper walls were extended using a Nuke projection setup, while the floor and key props were built out fully in CG. For the elevator environment, we also started with LiDAR and texture photography from the live-action set, but ended up tweaking the lookdev a bit to get the final look.

DP: Paper flying, sparks flaring, boxes tumbling—what was simulated and what was practical in the vault chaos?

Ryan Wilk: The primary vault fire flood (when the vents expel fire downward) was fully simulated in Houdini. We also simulated boxes, paper, and small debris to help with the realism. Ron Howard’s “Backdraft” was a great film for reference and inspiration for our explosions and fire. 

We also did the explosive arrow simulations that hit Walker’s shield.  In both cases (shield and flood), it was a matter of iterating to find the right balance of scale, density and timing to remain believable.

DP: In the Yelena throw shot, you combined Florence Pugh’s face with a stunt performer’s full-body take. Can you break down how Charlatan evolved for this? And how hard was it to keep hair and costume alignment believable?

Ryan Wilk: This was probably our trickiest shot. To get a seamless handoff, it really took all available tools we had. We started with an articulate track of the stitched Yelena performance and rendered her digital double with hair and cloth sims. Using our proprietary tool, Charlatan, we completed a face replacement utilizing other plates and takes of Florence as source material. 

And lastly, our team had the idea to feed the Charlatan tool a hero frame and target frame for Yelena’s body itself, and the tool attempted to generate content to fill the gap. All of the elements (plate, CG render, and Charlatan content) were combined and finessed heavily in comp. And in addition to all this, the environment also had to be fully reconstructed to work across both takes seamlessly and have Yelena interact with the CG set. We hope that when people watch this shot, they don’t even realize it is a VFX shot!

DP: Let’s talk Ghost. Her phasing effect must’ve gone through eleventy iterations. What was the final approach, and how did you balance the ‘techy’ visual logic with audience readability?

Ryan Wilk: In this iteration of Ghost, she has more control of her powers than in previous films, so her phasing was meant to be more intentional. For her motion, we tried to utilize her plate performance as much as possible, but played with the timing and spacing to create the ‘leaves’ of Ghost. We created the ‘leaves’ in animation, and then rendered them with varying shutter angles to provide comp with options from streaking effect with long shutters to sharp non-motion blur renders .

Our comp team then did the final sweetening, using chromatic aberration and varying levels of defocus and opacity to create the final look. It was quite a creative challenge, because we were not just adding the Ghost effect to each shot arbitrarily, we were experimenting and using the Ghost effect to help enhance the action of the stunts. Each shot with Ghost phasing was uniquely crafted from Anim to Lighting to Comp to get the necessary look for buy off.

DP: When the incinerator kicks in, things explode fast. What went into building the fire, pressure, and structural damage—without turning it into a Michael Bay moment?

Ryan Wilk: I think it really comes down to iterations. For the flood in particular, it did take a few rounds to find the right speed and volume to maintain believability. It was imperative to use past movies with live action explosions as reference to help determine the scale of the simulations. Once we were good with the fundamental simulation of the fire flood then we ran the secondary additional sims to drive elements like smoke, embers,  boxes, papers, small debris to further help with the realism.

DP: Were there any custom in-house tools or pipeline tweaks developed specifically for Thunderbolts*—whether it was for sim setups, render optimization, or automation?

Ryan Wilk: Nothing in particular, other than maybe stretching the abilities of our face-swapping software, Charlatan, into new areas. A happy accident to discover that Charlatan can be used more like a glorified morphing tool to stitch plate characters with digi-doubles and vice versa.

DP: One thing about this vault brawl—it’s messy in a good way. Did you help shape the stunt choreography visually, or were you purely there to augment the physical fight?

Ryan Wilk: Most of the choreography is faithful to the original stuntvis, but we do like to think we contributed to it in small ways throughout the sequence. In one shot, for example, there was a bit of a pause in the stunt moves while Ghost and Taskmaster were fighting. The filmmakers wanted Ghost to be phasing, but because Taskmaster wasn’t actively attacking at that moment, the phasing felt unjustified. 

So we replaced Taskmaster’s arm with a CG version, so that her sword swipes for Ghosts’s head. This allowed us to use the phasing as a dodge, and another ‘close call’ moment. There were little moments like this throughout, and the filmmakers were always open to our pitches to help improve and tighten the action of the fights.

DP: You retimed and repositioned Taskmaster’s arm mid-punch to sell weight. That’s oddly poetic. How much of the fight was rhythm-adjusted in post to maintain impact?

Ryan Wilk: We did things like this throughout the sequence, some very minor, some requiring a bit more surgery.  And this is not to take away anything from the stunt work, it was very good. But adding just a little extra snappiness with the help of VFX makes everything feel just that much more intense.

DP: The camera move during Yelena’s throw is a standout—no fast cuts, no motion blur cheats. Was that shot the hardest to comp—or the most fun?

Ryan Wilk: Both!

DP: There’s a subtle photorealism to your digi-doubles in – they don’t scream “CG.” How do you approach the uncanny valley now? More shaders, better rigs, better lighting—or all of the above? 

Ryan Wilk: All of the above. We are always trying to improve our digis, but for years now, if you were to take a look at our digital double t-pose turntables, you would agree they are highly photoreal. It is always fun when you show a side-by-side to someone and they can’t tell which is the reference and which is CG. But I think the challenge in sequences like this really comes down to the animation and motion. The human eye is just so keen when it sees things move unnaturally. So, superhero movies have always had this particular challenge…you have humans doing non-human things, and making that appear real to the human eye/brain is always tricky.

In Thunderbolts*, while there were a few moments where we were defying physics a bit, most of it was very grounded. The viewer could buy that something like this could be done by a very athletic human. And I think that contributed to us being able to get things to really sit in nicely.

DP: When you’re designing FX like Ghost’s phasing, do you think in emotional beats—like “this one should feel desperate” or “this flicker should feel like anger”?

Ryan Wilk: I don’t know if it got that nuanced, but it certainly was fun coming up with ways for her phasing to help the action. Let’s add a narrow miss here, Let’s have her pop up behind someone at just the right moment there for the ultimate sucker-punch, etc.

DP: What’s your current favorite “small-but-crucial” tool in your pipeline—something you think every VFX team should use, but maybe overlook?

Ryan Wilk: Well you were lucky enough to get the VFX producer for this interview instead of a supervisor, so am I allowed to answer with an excel formula? I’ll go with “Index match”.

DP: What’s the one thing you’d tell a VFX team starting their first Marvel-scale show?

Ryan Wilk: Be prepared for changes, show your work often, and be honest if you are in the weeds.

DP: Everyone’s talking about neural rendering lately. Did Gaussian Splatting, NeRFs or similar volumetric techniques sneak into Thunderbolts*—or are we still in “experimental, not production” territory?

Ryan Wilk: We’re actively investigating the Gaussian Splatting that Chaos introduced with VRay 7 for some relighting techniques and better lighting all around within our workflow. But for Thunderbolts* we stuck with the tried and true HDRs, using projections on combinations of LiDAR and layout geometry for our lighting.

DP: The vault is one of the most grounded VFX sequences Marvel’s done in years. What’s the shot in there that quietly makes you smile every time?

Ryan Wilk: There will always be one shot that makes me smile, and that is a seemingly simple shot where the vault doors all slam closed as the camera whip pans around the room. The doors in this shot are CG, and despite being one of the first shots turned over, it took ages for us to get this right. We had wedges of differing door drop speeds (simulated and key framed), different mechanisms for how the door panels move against each other. Numerous iterations on lookdev to get the door texture and lighting just right. Sometimes the most seemingly easy visual effects task can become a struggle. But we all get a good laugh out of it now.

DP: What’s next for you and Digital Domain—if it’s not NDA’d into a black hole?

Ryan Wilk: Not allowed to say quite yet, but Digital Domain has quite a few exciting projects going for the rest of 2025.

The post Thunderbolts* Vaults: Digital Domain on Marvel’s Most Grounded Brawl first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

DP: How did you get involved in the project?
Michael Melchiorre: As I was finishing up “She-Hulk: Attorney at Law,” Digital Domain was in the process of actively bidding on new projects, one of which was “Agatha All Along.” My background as a compositing supervisor made this a perfect fit for me, as it was a very comp heavy show. Digital Domain was the main vendor on this show completing just under 400 shots, spread across all nine episodes.

We went through the normal bidding process on this show since it had been a few years since we were involved with “WandaVision.” We were able to reuse our Agatha digi-double. This was helpful in that we had already nailed her likeness in the previous show. However, she had an all new costume on this project, so we still had to make extensive upgrades and adjustments.

DP: Digital Domain was a key player in this project. How did you integrate your pipeline with Marvel’s existing workflows to ensure seamless collaboration?
Michael Melchiorre: We have worked closely with Marvel since the release of “The Avengers” in 2012, which was the first Marvel project I was involved with at Digital Domain. At this point we know Marvel’s pipeline very well, and it is pretty standard from show to show. This makes it easy to get a project up and running.

DP:Marvel’s “Agatha All Along” has such a unique tone and aesthetic. How did your team approach defining the visual style of the series?
Michael Melchiorre: We knew going into this show that the creatives were looking to evoke the feeling of movies we all watched in the early to mid eighties. Movies like “Poltergeist,” “Ghostbusters,” “Return of the Jedi,” and “E.T.” were definitely touchstones we were aiming for.

DP: What was your approach to creating Agatha’s magical energy and effects? Were there any particular inspirations or references?
Michael Melchiorre: Beginning with Lookdev in November 2022, we were tasked with establishing distinct looks and colors for the magic of each witch: Agatha (purple), Teen (blue), Rio (green), Alice (orange), Lily (yellow), and Jen (pink). Each effect had to be unique yet maintain a consistent feel within the “Agatha All Along” world as well as what had been already established in “WandaVision”.

DP: The show features a mix of magical elements and grounded environments. Can you describe the main challenges in creating VFX that felt both fantastical and believable?
Michael Melchiorre: The Burial Mound Sequence, as we called it, was a very complex and difficult task. Although there was some consideration of completing this sequence in 2D, through the use of time lapse footage, the work was ultimately done in CG. As Agatha is gently laid to rest on the ground, her body withers and decays with grass, flowers, and mushrooms growing to envelop her. As the mushrooms mature and die, they are replaced by blooming roses and purple flowers, symbolizing the beauty that arises from her sacrifice. Our Environments team built growth simulations that allowed them to meticulously control every mushroom, flower, and blade of grass. Once we had the death/growth timing locked in, the FX team added subtle details such as falling pebbles and dirt being pushed aside as new flowers sprouted from the ground. A keen observer will notice that Agatha’s toes begin to curl as she withers away. A subtle nod to witches that have come before.

DP: Lighting and rendering play an important role in setting the mood for magical scenes. What tools and techniques did you use to achieve the show’s distinctive lighting effects?
Michael Melchiorre: The look of Evanora’s ghostly form was loosely based on the Librarian ghost from “Ghostbusters”. This again was an all 2D effect. The actress who played Evanora was filmed against a bluescreen, suspended by wires. Through a series of keys and mattes of targeted densities, compositors slowly layered Evanora back into the plate, paying close attention to the density and transparency of her form. On-set production had fans blowing to simulate a gentle, ethereal breeze. However, this was often blowing too fast for the look we were after. To solve this piece of the puzzle, our compositors strategically retimed and slowed down areas of her gown or hair that were moving too fast, being careful not to alter the performance or facial features. These areas were then carefully reintegrated into Evanora’s ghostly form.

DP: The show has a period aesthetic. How did this influence your VFX work, and were there any particular challenges in matching the period look?
Michael Melchiorre. We absolutely went ‘old school practical’ on much of our work for this show. During the final battle between Agatha and Rio in the backyard, the ominous green clouds we see above them are actually practical cloud tank elements. We sifted through tens of thousands of frames of footage looking for just the right cloud movement to convey the foreboding tone we wanted. Once we selected the pieces we wanted to use, compositors layered them into a 360 degree dome in Nuke. The end result was a great homage to effects reminiscent of things we grew up watching in “Ghostbusters” and “Poltergieist”.

DP: Can you talk about the collaboration between the VFX and Animation departments on this project? How did the teams ensure consistency in the final visuals?
Michael Melchiorre: The Animation team was an integral part of this project, most notably during the Broom Chase Sequence. Drawing inspiration from “Return of the Jedi” and its speeder bike chase, on-set production built an elaborate forest set and used drones to capture 180-degree array footage that, when stitched together, would be used as backgrounds to insert our broomstick riding coven into.

Each coven member was shot individually on a blue screen, suspended by harnesses. Once the comp team extracted each character from the blue screen, the animation team stepped in to help ‘fly’ the witches through our digitally created forest environment that matched the practical set. This helped ensure all of the witches were traveling correctly in 3D space, keeping their scale and position consistent and, most of all, keeping a natural and realistic flight path. The comp team took this flight information from anim and reprojected each witch onto animated cards, rephotographing them with the camera lens that matched what we identified as the hero witch in each shot.

The lighting team rendered full 3D versions of our forest assets that were used to extend and enhance specific areas of the practical photography. This resulted in seamless composites that were often constructed from as many as eight to ten individual plates. In a nod to “E.T.,” as the coven tries to escape the forest road, they fly high above the treetops across a blood moon. This effect initially began as a traditional painted backdrop on glass. On set, individual puppets dressed as each character were photographed on miniature brooms against a blue screen. To enhance the scene, compositors augmented each character to ensure their hair and clothes moved naturally.

Once we are high above the witches road, this is where we relied heavily on our full digital recreation of the forest environment to capture angles that were impossible to achieve on set. Detailed down to the smallest rocks and built to hold up at any distance. The lighting team had complete freedom and confidence in our forest to create any vista we could conceive.

DP: Were there any unexpected technical hurdles that arose during production, and how did your team overcome them?
Michael Melchiorre: The biggest hurdle we had to overcome was also what made this show so interesting and unique: the artistic directive from Marvel. We were embracing old school techniques and methodologies and updating them using our current toolset. This is something many newer compositors have not had the chance to experience. We knew the comp team was going to be carrying a very heavy load, so we were very specific about the kind of artists we brought onboard for this show.

DP: Agatha’s character is at the heart of the show’s visuals. How much of the VFX work was influenced by Kathryn Hahn’s performance and how did you use digital effects to enhance her performance?
Michael Melchiorre: When we have an actress that is as expressive as Kathryn Hahn, we are always careful not to distract from or hide the performance. This was particularly important in the scenes where Agatha is a ghost. We had to create her otherworldly ghostlike appearance, but not lose the essence of her character. We were very particular about the amount of transparency that we allowed in and around her facial features. After all, she is the star of the show.

DP: Looking back on the project, is there a particular scene or effect that you’re particularly proud of and why?
Michael Melchiorre: I don’t know if I have a favorite shot or sequence. Each one presented its own challenges and rewards. I’m really proud of what the entire team, across every department, was able to achieve. Everyone involved in this show gave it their all and that effort shines in the final frames. I really feel like we created something that was exciting and fresh, but at the same time very familiar.

The post Digital Domain Lets Agatha Fly first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

In nuce: Visual effects service provider Universal Production Partners (UPP) has released an almost three-and-a-half-minute VFX breakdown – filled with eye-catching VFXs from the superhero film Black Adam starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.

In toto: The superhero film Black Adam is set in the DC Comics universe and is the 12th feature film from the DC Extended Universe to date. The titular Black Adam is designed as an antihero. In Digital Production 01 : 2023 , Bela Beier spoke to Nikos Kalaitzidis, supervisor at VFX house Digital Domain, about superhero effects, sharp-shooting shootouts – and crispy roasted mercenaries (the article entitled “Black Adam!” can be found on page 62 of the issue). Nikos Kalaitzidis has been working at Digital Domain for almost 30 years now; his portfolio includes feature films such as Titanic, Fast and Furious, Tron: Legacy and X-Men.

Click to continue: Universal Production Partners has been in business since 1994 and has branches in Prague and Budapest. The studio was recently nominated for a BAFTA Award for its work on the anti-war film Nothing New in the West. Their current feature film productions include the Sylvester Stallone film Samaritan, the Matthias Schweighöfer film Army of Thieves and the Disney film Jungle Cruise (also starring The Rock). To the website of Universal Production Partners (UPP).

Black Adam – UPP VFX Breakdown

The post Black Adam | VFX Breakdown first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Patrick Poti.

In nuce: VFX service provider Sony Pictures Imageworks has released a VFX breakdown for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (street name: Doctor Strange 2) – packed to bursting with set extensions, explosions and collapsing buildings.

In toto: For the second cinema appearance of the Sorcerer Supreme, Earth’s supreme protector against magical and mystical threats (aka Stephen Strange), Marvel hired cult director Sam Raimi (Evil Dead, Army of Darkness, Drag me to Hell) – resulting in scenes with an undead Doctor Strange that look like Bruce Campbell stumbling through an Evil Dead film. Incidentally, Campbell, the crown jewel of the Sam Raimi cast, makes a guest appearance in the second Doctor Strange film – as a choleric hot dog vendor. With the Spider-Man film from 2002 and its sequels, Raimi and the VFX artists laid the foundations for the contemporary comic film.

Click to continue: On 17/01/2022 , Digital Production reported on Sony Picture Imageworks Sizzle Reel – stocked with showstoppers revolving around superheroes, alien life forms and hyperkinetic pooches.

DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS | VFX Breakdown

The post Doctor Strange 2 | VFX Breakdown first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Patrick Poti.

In nuce: VFX house Sony Pictures Imageworks has released a sizzle reel lasting over two minutes. Film productions in the starting blocks in which Imageworks is involved: the sci-fi action film 65 (with Adam Driver and dinosaurs), the sequel Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and A Man Called Otto (with Tom Hanks).

In toto: The sizzle reel includes a reunion with: Acting legend Sir Patrick Steward, supervillain Sandman, the superheroes from the Marvel film Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, the spider women and men from Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Doctor Stephen Strange (aka Sorcerer Supreme: earth’s supreme protector against magical and mystical threats), the rambunctious ostriches from Jumanji: The Next Level, the extraterrestrial life forms from Men in Black: International – and the bird-wild peeps from The Angry Birds Movie.

Click on to see more: the world of the most famous arachnophile slash alliterator (Peter Parker!) in superhero history can be accessed via the links below:

• 5.03.2019: Off into the Spider-Verse with Imageworks: here’s an insight into techniques used to create the visual style.
• 11.04.2019: Imageworks with new breakdown clip for Oscar winner Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse – this time we look at the realisation of the city.
• 16.12.2019: New visual effects breakdown for Spider-Man: Far From Home. Sony Pictures Imageworks presents their work on the Marvel project!

Imageworks Sizzle Reel | 2022

The post Sony Pictures Imageworks | Sizzle Reel first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Patrick Poti.