Now that The Falcon and the Winter Soldier has wrapped and we’re still a few weeks away from the debut of Loki, Marvel has released a behind-the-scenes video on its YouTube channel detailing the CGI effects that made it look like Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) was flying through the air as Falcon [minor spoilers ahead if you haven’t watched the show yet].
Eric Leven, VFX Supervisor for Falcon, breaks down a couple of the show’s key scenes. including the mid-air chase scene from the series’ first episode.
“What I really wanted to do for the big action sequences was, as much as possible, make things feel like they’re grounded in reality,” Leven explains. “Obviously, we don’t have Anthony Mackie flying around in a real jet pack with real wings, but we wanted to make it feel like if he was, how would we film that?”
He says director Kari Skogland wanted the flying scenes to convey the authentic feeling of a real person flying through the air, with wingsuit pilots who jump out of planes serving as inspiration. But they were trying to avoid emulating the flight patterns of other heroes in the MCU who can fly, like Iron Man, Leven added. The result was a new visual language for the show, he said.
You can watch the full video of VFX secrets from The Falcon and the Winter Soldier below.
Oh and in case you’re still jonesing for more MCU, Loki premieres on Disney Plus June 9th (and will drop new episodes on Wednesdays instead of Fridays).