Despite the occasional box office record being toppled – whether it be Deadpool 2 crossing the half-billion dollar mark, or Incredibles 2 opening to an unprecedented $180 million – the limelight doesn’t appear to stray from Avengers: Infinity War these days, and rightfully so. The Anthony and Joe Russo-directed blockbuster became the fourth ticket booth titan to conquer the elusive $2 billion plateau, behind only Star Wars: The Force Awakens ($2.068B), Titanic ($2.187B) and Avatar ($2.788B).
The culmination of Marvel Studios’ decade-long effort to unite all of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes on the big screen, the pic saw the titular supergroup battle their most formidable opponent yet, Thanos (Josh Brolin). As such, it’s no wonder the nineteenth MCU entry handily shattered a multitude of box office records, which we conveniently laid out for you earlier this week.
Although, if I may speak frankly, of the many, and I mean many, truly epic tilts en route to the Mad Titan literally disassembling our superheroes, the showdown between Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Ebony Maw (Tom Vaughan-Lawlor) is amongst my preferred. Imagine my excitement, then, when the above VFX breakdown of their face-to-face encounter on the Q-ship emerged.
In the rather, unfortunately, short behind the scenes exclusive, you’ll find Cumberbatch suspended in mid-air against an unmissable green screen, boom mic dangling just above his “vaguely irritating person,” with Ebony Maw and Tom Vaughan-Lawlor alternating appearances. Again, it’s quite brief, but it makes for a fascinating look at the production process.
With the $2 billion mark now in the rearview mirror, and the theatrical run of Avengers: Infinity War coming to a close, the next big box office draw for the MCU will be Ant-Man and the Wasp, which, undoubtedly, will go nowhere near the numbers of the third supergroup installment. Still, it should contribute handsomely to what’s already been a year to remember for Disney and their newest subsidiary.