There's nothing quite like Spider-Man's own brand of energetic web-slingin' action, and this year's SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING definitely delivered in that regard. One of the stand-out action sequences from the Jon Watts flick came late in the game, when Spidey (Tom Holland) battles Vulture (Michael Keaton) on top of, and beneath, a stealth cargo plane. ImageworksVFX was one of the companies supplying visual effects to SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING, and a recent VFX reel dives into just how they realized that climatic air-borne battle.
VFX supervisor Theodore Bialek has spoken of the challenges of crafting a fight sequence taking place at incredible speeds, where merely keeping your grip is a battle itself.
The challenge with recreating a realistic interpretation of the someone holding on to a plane moving in excess of 500 mph is that its innately unrealistic to expect even a superhero to do much more just hold on before they’re ripped off into the air. Just having Spider-Man stuck to the plane like a bug on your windshield wouldn’t make for much of sequence either, so clearly a balance of what’s realistic and what’s engaging needed to be found. A highly acrobatic fight just wasn’t going to be an option so eventually we found the sequence played out best as more of a controlled fall as Vulture advances toward Spider-Man. Once Vulture lands on the plane even he’s subject to the extreme drag and wind. Every time Vulture would lift his wing we’d play up the air current with it literally tearing Vulture off the plane, requiring him to quickly lash out at the surface in order maintain some semblance of purchase and control.
SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING is now available on DVD/Blu-ray/4K Ultra HD.
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