Fans and filmmakers have been arguing about what Wolverine’s costume should look like in live-action films ever since the bumblebee-colored comic book costume was replaced with black leather in the first X-Men film. Fans-only character snark. (X-Men ’97 recently referenced this moment and flipped the script.) deleted scene from 2013 Wolverine – Way of the Warrior gave a taste of what Wolverine’s classic comic book suit might look like in live-action, but he didn’t actually wear it until 2024. Deadpool and Wolverine – which Despite it lets the characters argue about whether yellow and black leather suits him.
But where the characters have room to joke about Wolverine’s choice of clothing, VFX Supervisor Daniel Macarin
“The first challenge was to sell the idea of letting us do this,” Macarin said in an interview after the film’s release. “When they showed us some of the sequences and we saw the mask, we thought: Oh my God! This fan said: Yes that’s it! You are just as excited as the audience – but then you see it like this: I have to be a part of it. I have to make it better. What can I do?”
Image: Jay Maidment / 20th Century Studios, Marvel Studios
Macarin says producer and co-writer Ryan Reynolds, who plays Deadpool, was all for Wētā’s involvement, but “half the camp was like: You know, no. Let’s do a test.What followed was a long series of tests and discussions about “minor cosmetic details.” […] that we wanted to improve, just to make sure that people fell in love with the mask and believed in it as much as possible.” The process took time, but “little by little we overtook everyone who wasn’t sure and then everyone was on board. And that was a really great moment.”
Wētā has been the VFX department behind Deadpool’s masked facial expressions since the first film. Dead Pool In 2016, all three films used practical costume masks that were digitally enhanced on set in scenes featuring Deadpool and his costumed allies. Macarin confirms that the production process has not changed since Deadpool moved from 20th Century Fox to Disney, although Disney-produced superhero films are known for editing superhero costumes through heavy CG changes—or adding digital effects entirely to them.
“Ryan was very keen to keep the team he loves and the people who have invested so much time and energy into this show,” says Macarin. “Marvel trusted him and Shawn, the director, so much […] I think the Wolverine costumes shown very early on online addressed people’s concerns: We don’t do it digitally. We’re in these suits. We do it. It’s our bodies. We bring these characters to life as best we can, and you’ll see it. So we haven’t actually talked about digitalization.”
On the contrary, the filmmakers were concerned that digitally editing Wolverine’s mask might make it look artificial, especially given the mask’s black “wings.” “If we moved those wing tips the way we moved the black leather on Deadpool’s mask, it would quickly look like a cartoon,” says Macarin. “And we don’t want people to get into conversations like: Was the mask digital? It looks animated. It doesn’t fit Hugh’s performance.”
This problem was solved by applying different digital rules to the different materials his masks are made of.”[The] “The metal moves very, very little and most of the time not at all,” says Macarin. “His yellow fabric moves quite a bit. And that’s where you see the wrinkles and the expression, more in the yellow areas. And then we can move the eyes a little bit under the metal. You can’t move it dramatically.”
Figuring out how to get Wolverine’s eyes, on the other hand, wasn’t a logistical or physical problem; it was a matter of satisfying the fans.
“We had to test whether we should do pure fan service and go with classic Wolverine eyes from the comics – they’re very slanted and curved at the top of the eye,” says Macarin. “So, because we’re very nerdy, we take out every comic reference and put it in and give it the comic look. And we’re like: Oh my god, this looks so cool as a still image! [But] that does it not looks cool in motion. It gives it a comic book look that doesn’t follow the same visual style as the movie.
“So we started to scale it back, like this, OK, let’s take 100% comedy, then 50% comedy and then we can reduce it and find the balance that allows his eyes to still move with the emotion of Hugh’s performance. But we do not have [want to make it look] as animated as a cartoon series.”
Macarin says Reynolds regularly called the Wētā team and asked for improvements and experiments on Deadpool’s facial expressions – but Jackman did not have the same requests for practical reasons.
“He is more limited than Ryan because we can see his face,” says Macarin. “He cannot say: Hey, I want to try a different line. I don’t turn around [his] Facial Digi and a new facial performance. We have to somehow stick to what [he] I did that day.”
Instead, all the changes – and conflicts – came from Macarin’s stubborn, Wolverine-loving team itself.
“I grew up with the original X-Men cartoon, so I love that look,” he says. “We have a lot of Wolverine statues and toys and stuff like that lying around on our desks. So we looked at a lot of references and argued a lot about how far we should go. [from] just the love for this character and that everyone wanted him to be a certain way. So it was fun but difficult to find a balance with his comic style. People know and love this character. They take it personally. And you have to pay attention to that.”
Deadpool and Wolverine is now in theaters.
