In one of Avengers: Endgame‘s most expected cameos, Stan Lee appeared in the film over forty years younger then he was at the time of the death and a visual effects artist recently went into just how difficult the task was to de-age the comic legend.
Stan Lee’s final cameo in Avengers: Endgame was perhaps one of the strangest. In it, the Avengers had to go back in time to the 70s where a de-aged Stan Lee could be seen shouting at a military base. While speaking to Comicbook.com, visual effects artist Trent Claus of Lola’s VFX talked about the process comparing the task of de-aging Stan Lee to that of de-aging characters in Captain Marvel:
There was some work, very minor de-aging done on Captain Marvel. But that was 10 years ago or something, so not really a noticeable change overall, especially for a man of his age. But for this one, we had to go back 45 years, so it was a pretty sizable amount.
He then went into how they go into the de-aging process, stating that, in order to de-age an actor, it has to be done frame by frame and talked about the company’s experience in doing so:
The work that we do, we don’t create a CG replication of the actor. We use the actor that’s actually there on screen, so we were actually modifying the actor in the performance that was there on set as opposed to re-creating something new. So, we have to treat each and every frame like a painting, where you’re working with light and shadow, and form, and composition, and things like that to accomplish the goal.
We’ve got a highly trained roster of artists here that work for us that have been doing this for a long time. Lola started de-aging way back on X-Men 3, and have been doing it ever since. I started with the first, as far as de-aging and stuff goes, with the first Captain America.
He then talked a bit about the many things that had to be taken into consideration, which included an artists knowledge of anatomy and how expressions can change the entire body:
In addition to that. You have to rely on the artist’s knowledge of anatomy, the changes that happen to humans over time, the physiological changes in the skin and the muscles, and the mechanics of the expressions that you make in your face, and also the body, the posture and the build of the body changes over time. All those things have to be taken into consideration.
From the look of things, a huge amount of work went into de-aging Stan Lee in Avengers: Endgame!
What did you all think of Stan Lee’s final appearance? How well does it measure up to others? Let us know what you think in the comments below!
Stan Lee’s final cameo was in Avengers: Endgame. Here is a plot synopsis for the film:
The grave course of events set in motion by Thanos that wiped out half the universe and fractured the Avengers ranks compels the remaining Avengers to take one final stand in Marvel Studios’ grand conclusion to twenty-two films, “Avengers: Endgame.”
Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, Avengers: Endgame stars Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Don Cheadle, Paul Rudd, Brie Larson, Karen Gillan, Danai Gurira, Benedict Wong, Jon Favreau, Bradley Cooper, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Josh Brolin.
Avengers: Endgame is now playing in theaters!
Source: Comicbook.com