Captain America: Brave New World is proving to be one of the more divisive movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe – and not in the way that those split-screen trailers hinted at. Of the many plot elements and production decisions that Marvel fans are now debating, there has been one discussion that rings out louder than the rest: the design and overall impact of Samuel Sterns/The Leader (Tim Blake Nelson).
WARNING: SPOILERS FOLLOW!
The big “reveal” in Captain America: Brave New World is that General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross swept in during the aftermath of The Incredible Hulk‘s “Battle of Harlem” between Hulk and Abomination, and detained the man responsible for creating Abomination. However, Ross continued feeding Sterns gamma to boost his enhanced intellect – to the point that Sterns was able to chart a path of probabilities and geopolitical influence that brought Ross from the military to politics, and eventually the presidency. When “President” Ross didn’t honor a promise to free Sterns, The Leader used his powers of insight and calculation to push geopolitics to the brink, and engineer Ross’s downfall.
It’s a big moment when The Leader first emerges from the shadows in the bunker underneath Camp Echo One – and arguably a moment that landed with a resounding thud for many viewers. Brave New World introduces a radically different design for The Leader than what fans know from Marvel Comics, with Sterns’ gamma-irradiated brain having grown out of the confines of his skull, like some grotesque cranial mushroom. However, between the deviation in design, and the extensive reshoots that were done, the Leader’s look fluctuated between menacing and outright hilarious. There are already waves of Leader memes springing up on social media, and the character design (and its inconsistency) has become the focus of entire reaction videos and chat threads.
Why Captain America: Brave New World Went With THAT Design for The Leader
In a new interview with Variety, Captain America: Brave New World director Julius Onah addressed the design of Samuel Sterns/The Leader, and why the film went with it.
“You’re making a movie that is more grounded in terms of its visual aesthetic and style, so you want to make sure that even with these heightened characters, it fits into the world of the film,” Onah explained. “When you think about the arc of his character and the humanity that’s been taken away from him, there’s a monstrosity to him, and I really wanted to lean into that, so the moment you see him, you understand what’s propelling him as a character and his desire for retribution.”
To be fair, the idea of “monstrosity” is a core theme of Brave New World. Those split-screen trailers were really hinting at a story about the true nature of who people are, despite the public face they wear (and how that idea relates to Sam Wilson as Cap). In that sense, the Marvel Comics version of The Leader – with his egg-shaped elongated head – wouldn’t have conveyed enough of the “monster” theme tied to the character.
[RELATED: Has The Leader Been Behind Other Major Events In The MCU?]
Of course, not every Marvel fan agrees with that logic: some alleged concept art of alternate designs for The Leader has already surfaced, revealing concepts that were much more comic-accurate. Onah confirmed that the process of getting the villain’s look right onscreen took a few tries:
“We started off with an entirely practical version of it. You still see a lot of that practical work, in terms of prosthetics and paint stuff of that sort. It was great for Tim, because he’s very immersive in terms of what he likes to do as a performer. I remember one day on set, somebody jumped when they saw him. And then when we put it together in the movie, I wanted to push it even further, to make sure that that jump could come [over] on screen. So we did enhance with visual effects, just to push it to that edge of something that hopefully wasn’t too off-putting, but again, helped you understand emotionally what was driving him.”
Ironically, the sophistication of the prosthetics, makeup, and visual effects to create The Leader may have become an unattainable line that the filmmakers couldn’t reach again during reshoots. That certainly looks to be the case: there are scenes in Brave New World where Tim Blake Nelson’s makeup as The Leader looks far less sophisticated than it should.
Captain America: Brave New World is now in theaters.
The post Captain America: Brave New World Director Explains Why The Leader’s Design Was Changed for the MCU appeared first on ComicBook.com.
from ComicBook.com https://ift.tt/zB7Kygp
0 Comments