Behind-The-Scenes Facts From 'Avengers: Infinity War' That Demand A Rewatch

One of Peter Parker's most useful superpowers is his Spidey-Sense, which warns him of imminent danger. This is typically indicated by lightning bolts shooting away from his head in the comics, but that's not something that translates well in live action. At the beginning of Infinity War, Peter and his classmates are traveling on a school bus when Peter's Spider-Sense starts tingling, which is indicated by his arm hair standing straight up.

You would be forgiven for thinking this was accomplished via CGI, but it wasn't. This was the first time this particular power was shown on-screen, but getting Tom Holland's arm hair to raise like that was achieved practically. Nobody was on-hand with a plasma globe or anything like it to achieve the effect; instead, someone was just off-camera blowing into the actor's ear. Sometimes, the easiest solutions work the best. Directors Joe and Anthony Russo explained how they made it happen:

Joe Russo: We get asked this all the time. How did we get the hair on Tom Holland's arm to stand up?

Anthony Russo: In our New York Times "Anatomy of This Scene" we finally revealed... a lot of people think it's a CG shot, but it was actually achieved by a very gentle blowing on Tom's ear.

When characters begin to fade into ash at the end of Avengers: Infinity War, the realization that the heroes have failed can't be more apparent. It happens quickly, and in most cases, it's not incredibly dramatic. Then, Spider-Man begins to fade away, and the drama is ramped up to 11. The scene is heart-wrenching for several reasons, and they're all pretty sad. Because of his Spider-Sense (Peter Tingle), he feels himself beginning to fade away, which is why he reaches out to Tony Stark (the man he thinks of as a father).

He says to him, "I don't want to go," and then he does, leaving Tony to deal with the aftermath and loss. That last bit of dialogue wasn't in the script. It was improvised by Holland, and they shot several takes before settling on the one that made it into the movie. It's one of those lines that seems as if it should have been in the script all along, but it was all Holland's idea. Holland discussed the scene, which was his favorite, in an interview with Deadline:

"I don't want to go" is the one I get all the time from that scene in Avengers: Infinity War. It's amazing when people think it's some mind-blowing piece of improv because I just say the same line five times in a row. People make out like it's this beautifully eloquent sentence. But I look back on that scene so fondly. We had so much fun on those sets, but when we got into the emotion of that moment, we really dived into it. People tell me they imagine that scene must have been horrendous to shoot, but I look back on it with nothing but happiness. It was amazing. I loved it. I got to hug Robert Downey Jr., like, 60 times, and cry on his shoulder. What's not to love?

Thor changed a lot throughout his time in the MCU. He went from being a spoiled brat with an "I've gotta be king" complex to a thoughtful man with a lot of trauma. He also had his eyebrows dyed blond, but that's another story. Regardless, he was a serious character. At least, he was in the beginning. As the MCU continued, things changed for Thor, and by Thor: Ragnarok, he was cracking jokes, being funny, and was uncharacteristically jovial.

Chris Hemsworth liked how the character developed in Taika Waititi's Ragnarok, and he didn't want to go back to doing things the way other directors had in previous movies. CinemaBlend reported during the film's production that Hemsworth wasn't interested in returning to "serious Thor," and recounted the actor's explanation, where he said, "I came into this and called Joe and Anthony and said, 'Look, don't write me the old Thor, We've got a new Thor now." Infinity War isn't as comical as Ragnarok, but Thor's interaction with the Guardians of the Galaxy added some needed levity to the otherwise serious film.

In almost every moviemaking experience, an actor receives a script that outlines their entire character's story from beginning to end. That's normal in most productions, but that's not how things worked with Infinity War. Because the studio was so afraid of script leaks (hence, the "blue" and "red" scripts), the actors in Infinity War didn't know if their character would be wiped out by the snap until the day they filmed the final scenes of the movie. Elizabeth Olsen explained how she and her co-stars were taken into a van they had on the set, where the Russo brothers told them the news in secret: 

I found out from the Russos exactly what was going to happen and it wasn't until we shot it on that day we learned what the ending was. They took us into a van - all of us - we were in a van with air conditioning because it was very hot and they told us how the movie was going to end and no one knew. And they were like "Now we're shooting it, Go!" and we were like "How are we supposed to interpret that?"

This left the actors little time to prepare, and as any actor will tell you, they need time to get their minds right for a death scene. Still, the nature of those demises may have made it easier since they vanished from the screen. Of course, not everyone made it into the van, and according to Leticia Wright, who plays Shuri in the MCU, she wasn't briefed and only learned about her character's demise after seeing her face on a black and white teaser poster.

Avengers: Infinity War was one of the most highly anticipated movies of all time, and Marvel Studios was well aware of the risk of leaks ruining the secrecy the studio preferred. Executive producer Trinh Tran acknowledged this, saying, "We knew from the start with Infinity War and Endgame that these two movies were going to be the biggest in terms of security level, that we needed to protect the content."

To keep the secrets from leaking, only one actor received a full version of the script, and that was Robert Downey Jr. The real script he had was called "code red," while the fake copies of the script were called "code blue." Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige has said the changes in the "code blue" scripts altered "a few key things," including the moment Loki perished in Infinity War.

The Red Skull is the first character in the MCU obsessed with the Infinity Stones - at least, chronologically. This distinction made him an ideal candidate for the necessary exposition that reveals to Thanos just how he can go about getting the Soul Stone on Vormir. It makes sense that he's the guy who got stuck on Vormir, given how he was taken out at the end of Captain America: The First Avenger - and this was something that screenwriters McFeely and Markus knew all too well:

Cinematically, he's the first one to be obsessed with these Infinity Stones in the MCU and he clearly did not die at the end of First Avenger. The idea of where he might have gone is so tantalizing... The MCU is a unique experiment and the fact that we've been there for all the phases is a privilege but we know where all the bodies are buried. Sometimes, you can dig a body up and put him in a scene.

Unfortunately, Hugo Weaving wasn't interested in reprising his role as the Red Skull after some contract issues arose, so Marvel turned to Ross Marquand. The actor, who many would recognize out of makeup as Aaron from AMC's The Walking Dead, used his master skills as an impressionist to play the role. Most assumed Weaving had returned, and it wasn't made clear until the end credits just who played the Red Skull in the movie.