To celebrate the release of Avengers: Age Of Ultron, let’s take a look at 12 things
you probably didn’t know about the second Avengers team-up in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
There are five different versions of Captain America’s shield which are used for filming.
Chris Evans, who plays Captain America, prefers to use the lightest version of the shield,
which is made of biscuit foam, so it doesn’t interfere with his acting.
However, that particular shield isn’t very durable unlike the soft rubber shield which
is more hard-wearing but heavier.
Andy Serkis was cast as arms dealer Ulysses Klaw after the movie’s executive producer
Jeremy Latcham saw a fan’s mock-up of Serkis as Klaue online!
To bring the Hulk and Ultron to life, Mark Ruffalo and James Spader worked closely with
Andy Serkis’s performance capture company, The Imaginarium Studios.
So that Ruffalo had a real sense of the Hulk’s size, weights and inhibitors were put on his
body.
And to create the Hulk’s roar on set, they used a sound system and pitch-modulated Ruffalo’s
voice.
According to Ruffalo, the technology for capturing the Hulk’s performance had improved since
filming The Avengers, so this time they could capture his facial and body movements at the
same time, instead of separately, which really helped him bring the Hulk to life.
To bring Scarlet Witch’s powers to the big screen, writer-director Joss Whedon was not
only inspired by images from the comic books, but also by how dancers move.
So, Elizabeth Olsen, who plays Scarlet Witch, worked with dancer and movement coach Jenny
White to create fluid hand and arm movements to bring her character’s powers to visual
life on screen and really get her physicality right.
Black Widow’s new fighting batons were inspired by Escrima Sticks, which are used in traditional
Filipino Martial Arts.
However, unlike traditional Escrima Sticks, Black Widow’s batons are charged so she
can deliver a jolt of power when she hits an opponent.
The search for Baron von Strucker’s stronghold began a year before production started.
The filmmakers wanted an impressive-looking building with a cinematic setting in a region
little seen on screen, so the location scouts spent two months visiting potential historical
sites in Europe.
In the end, Fort Bard, a 19th-century fortified complex in north-west Italy’s Aosta Valley,
was used as Strucker’s Hydra Research Base in the fictional Eastern European setting
of Sokovia.
The Hulkbuster sequence was filmed over two weeks in the Central Business District of
Johannesburg in South Africa.
The shoot involved flying helicopters, crashing cars and exploding huge pyrotechnics in the
city.
Black Widow’s vision was filmed at Tring Park School For The Performing Arts, which
is located in Hertfordshire, England, and specialises in dance.
The scenes featured a number of the school’s ballet students practising in its dance studio.
Former pupils of the school include Star Wars: The Force Awakens star Daisy Ridley and Downton
Abbey actress Jessica Brown Findlay.
Although the Avengers Tower is located in New York City, the massive set for the Tower’s
interior was created by the movie’s production designer Charles Wood at Shepperton Studios
in the UK.
Scenes in the Tower feature heavily in the film so, to give Joss Whedon plenty of variety
for filming, Wood and his team designed a huge set with different interconnected levels
and multiple areas including laboratories, lounges, and locker rooms.
In fact, the Avengers Tower is the biggest set built for a Marvel movie so far.
To film Captain America’s chase scene with a speeding truck, Seoul’s Mapo Bridge, which
is a large multi-lane two-way bridge that crosses the Han River in South Korea, was
shut down completely.
Prior to shooting the sequence on the bridge, the movie’s crew rehearsed the stunts needed
on an unopened motorway nearby.
The Avengers’ Quinjet was redesigned to give it a more militaristic appearance, including
a pared-down, more functional-looking interior.
As for the Quinjet’s canopy, that was inspired by the look of helicopter cockpits, so it
has glass both in front and below, which gives a real sense of speed when it’s flying.
The movie’s epic final battle scene was shot on location in both Italy’s Aosta Valley
region and in London, England!
Hendon Police College, which is the main training centre for London’s Metropolitan Police,
was used for filming as it had an outdoor space big enough to double as war-torn Sokovia
and accommodate the whole production for three weeks as well as being secure from the prying
camera lenses of the paparazzi.
The movie’s production designer built a church on the site and the filmmakers used
drones to capture multiple angles during the shoot.
Director Joss Whedon has said that filming in that church was “some of the best visceral
comic book stuff” he’s ever shot.
Well there you have it, 12 things you probably didn't know about Avengers: Age Of Ultron!
Now, let me know in the comments below, what would you like to see in Captain America:
Civil War, and the next Avengers movie, Infinity War?
And who’s your favourite character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and why?
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Thanks for watching!
Yippee-ki-yay, movie lovers!