After providing the voice of Tony Stark’s A.I. personal assistant J.A.R.V.I.S. since 2008’sIron Man,Paul Bettanywas finally given an on-screen role, transforming into the new characterVisionin this summer’sAvengers: Age of Ultron. Fans won’t need to wait long to see him in action again, since he is next appearing inMarvel’s firstPhase ThreeadventureCaptain America: Civil War. While we wait for that to hit theaters,Make-Up Artist Magazinehas debuted new behind-the-scenes photos fromAvengers: Age of Ultronthat showcase the process of creating Vision’s elaborate costume.
Jeremy WoodheadandNik Williamsfrom Animated Extras were responsible for creating the costume, which provided plenty of challenges.Jeremy Woodheadreveals that one of their first issues was deciding what shade of red this newAvengershould be. Here’s what he had to say about the unique color they ended up going with for Vision.
“The red color was actually the hardest thing to figure out, because we didn’t want him to be a bright scarlet, which would look slightly absurd, so we ended up with a color that’s hard to describe. In some light, it looked pink and in others, red; it was like a red cabbage or beetroot color, a purple-pinky red. It was a light-dependent thing, which necessitated a mix of colors and layers, so depending on the light, it would either pick up the red or pink.”
Jeremy Woodheadsays that they originally came up with a full-body suit, but that concept was scratched.Nik Williamsadded that they actually “sculpted” the makeup over a 3D scan ofPaul Bettany’s head. Here’s whatJeremy Woodheadabout the decisions they had to make when creating the costume.
“We did an early concept for a full-body suit, but it was decided that production would go with a costume with a muscle suit underneath rather than a full-body prosthetic, while we just concentrated on the head and arms. We originally tested facial prosthetics as well, but Paul has delicate features, so any prosthetics on top would take away from them, so we just ended up with a prosthetic forehead, back-of-head and neck, leaving the face free, which I painted to match the prosthetic. I also put on the tracking markers so the visual effects people could add digital sculpting to those areas in post-production.”
It isn’t known at this time if this costume will be altered forCaptain America: Civil War, which is currently in production and set for release on June 30, 2025. While we wait for more details on that highly-anticipatedsuperhero movie, check out thesebehind-the-scenesphotos of Vision below. Are you impressed with how this costume turned out?
