Our work on Thor: Love and Thunder

The final battle in the Temple of Eternity at the edge of space sees Thor and Mighty Thor, aka Jane Foster, attempt to rescue the children of Asgard from Gorr the God Butcher.

The Wētā team created an all-CG temple environment, a cathedral-size closed space clad in veined green marble, complete with gigantic deities from the Marvel universe as the backdrop for a succession of epic shots. The hall floor was created as part of the physical set but we ended up replacing it digitally in most shots. The team then animated the creation of the space as it takes shape after the arrival of the children as well as partial destruction during the battle.

Our biggest piece of work on the film was turning this group of pyjama-wearing godlings into an army of mini-Thors. As the 50 kids charge, the team had to integrate lightning eyes and tesla effects on bodies along with CG replacements of all their weapons through a long camera move. This massive undertaking necessitated our roto/paint team create a streamlined delivery and then some Deep Comp trickery in our Compositing department.

The battle saw the use of “plate light” passes for a few shots where different light setups were triggered in stroboscopic fashion in sync with with high frame rate cameras so that for each re-timed frame, the team had a selection of lighting setups to choose from.

Our team did a lot of character work, digital doubles animation and face replacements for this project as well. The face of Gorr in particular was repeatedly replaced and his eyes augmented. Most of the shots of the two Thors were created with actors and stuntmen wearing minimal physical armour and only shoulder-length capes for freedom of movement – the rest was diligently added by our team as the shorty capes didn’t always behave the way a long cape would. Mighty Thor’s helm had a slimline design that made it impossible to create physically and was entirely CG throughout the movie.

Wētā FX also created the scene with the screaming goats in New Asgard as Thor and Mighty Thor set off in their converted tourist vessel. This was both the first AND the last shot we worked on in pursuit of the perfect look of the rainbow bridge.

As Thor traveled with the Guardians of the Galaxy crew ever since Avengers: Infinity War, the crew feature in a selection of sequences in the film. Part of our brief was a short sequence featuring Peter Quill, Groot, Drax, Rocket, Kraglin and Nebula fighting hostile robots around a disengaged Thor.