The MCU has taken audiences to many mesmerizing worlds, unique dimensions, and vast universes, all while making us fall in love with a talking raccoon, a purple stone-collecting Alien, and a hilarious mountain of rocks. With all that, Marvel Studios have employed breathtaking special effects to bring these worlds and characters to life.
Companies such as Industrial Light and Magic, Method Studios, and Trixster, have all delivered jaw-dropping, and immersive visual effects, enhancing the Marvel Cinematic Universe in ways practical effects simply couldn't. It's safe to say that creating believable and stunning VFX is a very difficult feat to achieve, and we greatly admire the work and dedication put into every VFX shot in cinema. But there have been many moments of gorgeous VFX work in the MCU that have simply taken our breath away. So with that in mind, here are the 10 most impressive special effects in the MCU.
10 Airport Battle - Captain America: Civil War (2016)
The battle between Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) and Captain America (Chris Evans) in Captain America: Civil War is a spectacle to say the least, and a lot of work for the VFX team. ILM, the VFX team behind Civil War, were tasked with animating the majority of the characters, including Spider-Man (Tom Holland), Ant-Man, and Vision (Paul Bettany), just to name a few, as well as creating the respective power effects for each hero, like Wanda's (Elizabeth Olsen) chaos magic, Vision's laser beam, and Hawkeye's (Jeremy Renner) many arrows. But perhaps the most impressive aspect of the scene is the airport itself.
Some may not know this, but the battle between Cap, and Iron Man was shot on a green screen, as the airport in which the battle takes place is entirely CG, bar a few airport vehicles. ILM did a great job at making the airport realistic, as well as creating a larger scale for the epic showdown.
9 Baby Groot Dancing - Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2 (2017)
Baby Groot is absolutely adorable, and the minute we saw him on screen for the first time in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, we immediately fell in love. However, we were not expecting the adorable little guy to then break out in dance while the rest of the Guardians battled a multidimensional being known as an Abilisk. The special effects work that went into this scene only made Groot's cute design, endearing mannerisms, and great dance moves far more believable and impressive.
8 Ant-Man's Scale - Ant-Man (2015)
Ant-Man has visually one of the best power sets in the MCU. His ability to shrink and grow large has led to many creative set pieces that require brilliant VFX to pull off. Thankfully, the Ant-Man movies more than deliver. 2015's Ant-Man is by far the best example of this. For the first time, showcasing the MCU from the point of view of an ant… man. We see Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) ride on the back of an ant, climb on top of a handgun while it is being fired, and perhaps best of all, fight Yellowjacket (Corey Stoll) in the middle of a Thomas The Tank Engine toy train set. The VFX here was simply brilliant.
7 The Battle for New York - Avengers (2012)
The very first Avengers team up was jaw-dropping, as the big six attempted to protect New York from the invading Chitauri. But this scene would have been nothing without its breathtaking CGI. New York is impressively recreated, and as we see the city get blown up piece by piece, we are in awe as the CG New York feels as alive and large as the real New York City. Likewise, seeing our favorite original Avengers take on an onslaught of Chitauri in the iconic spinning hero shot, and the brilliant "oner" which truly sells the scale of the destruction and the heroes abilities is phenomenal.
6 Every Iron Man Suit - Iron Man (2008)
For the most part, 2008's Iron Man opted to use practical effects as opposed to special effects, to create a sense of realism to the epic superhero origin story. Yet, when the Iron Man suit was in motion, or seen flying, it was difficult to make these scenes practically. So instead, before Marvel Studios was bought by Disney, Kevin Feige and Jon Favreau, the movie's director, hired a team over at ILM to make each CG shot photorealistic, and the team more than delivered. Even re-watching it today, we are floored by how impressive and realistic these shots are, as the difference between the fully practical suit and the fully CG suit is noticeable.
5 Portals - Avengers Endgame (2019)
Avengers: Endgame saw many impressive VFX shots that we are still in awe of. But none blew us away like the climactic battle against Thanos (Josh Brolin), as our beloved heroes who got "blipped" in Infinity War, returned through Doctor Strange's (Benedict Cumberbatch) portals to save the universe. It still gives us goosebumps. This scene is once again shot on a green screen, which is impressive in itself, but the standout VFX shots have to be the portals.
Each portal contains different backdrops of iconic MCU locations and planets, including Wakanda, Titan, and Contraxia. Likewise, seeing the heroes flawlessly appear through these portals adds a sense of realism and whimsy, as ILM once again did a brilliant job of creating some of the most immersive and impressive CG in cinematic history.
4 Fake RDJ - Iron Man 3 (2013)
There are many moments of VFX in the MCU that simply go unnoticed by fans, and this short scene is just one of them, and is by far the most impressive. During Iron Man 3's production, Robert Downey Jr. sustained an injury, meaning he couldn't come to set. But as we all know, movies have a strict production deadline, so instead of delaying production, a stand-in for Downey Jr. was shot, with Robert Downey Jr's face later superimposed onto his body in post-production.
3 Skinny Steve - Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
It's no secret that Chris Evans is huge, and seeing his face CG'd onto a smaller body, is just a ridiculous notion. However, in 2011's Captain America: The First Avenger, we saw Steve Rogers before he was injected with super soldier serum, and it looked great. The team behind these scenes did such a great job at superimposing Chris Evans face onto Christopher George Sarris' body, making it feel authentic and ridiculously believable.
2 Thanos - Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
When we saw Thanos for the first time in Infinity War, we were simply stunned. The animation of this intimidating comic book movie villain was pure perfection. Every dimple, every wrinkle, and every hair follicle on his face, is crystal clear with intricate detailing. We are still yet to see something as mind-blowing as this. Thanos is beyond photorealistic, and a crowning achievement of the limits animators can push character VFX.
1 The Entire Movie - Doctor Strange (2016)
No MCU movie has delivered as stunning visuals as 2016's Doctor Strange. The entire movie is hammered with VFX and in any other movie, this would have been very distracting. However, no words can describe the gorgeous visuals the movie presents us with. The underrated MCU origin film, Doctor Strange plays with physics in breathtaking ways, forcing buildings to repair themselves in a brilliant final act fight as Doctor Strange reverses time, as well as an entire city scape bending and reforming to the magic-wielder's will. Likewise, the scene where Stephen Strange is astral projected out of his body paves the way for some stunning visuals, which never cease to amaze.