After Hearing How The Wildest Scenes In Thunderbolts* Were Made, I’m Even More Impressed By Them

The behind-the-scenes information provided about Thunderbolts* and how some of its most unhinged and surreal scenes in the movie were filmed serves to make the MCU installment all the more impressive to me. The Thunderbolts* ending and its reveal that the “Thunderbolts” would go on to be the MCU’s first New Avengers team cemented the significance of the MCU movie, especially with the core Thunderbolts* group being confirmed as part of the cast of Avengers: Doomsday. However, that isn’t the only important thing the film does.

More than just reminding audiences of several pre-existing MCU characters – and bringing the Sentry and the Void into the MCU timeline – Thunderbolts* manages to make you root for its motley team even as it underlines their inner demons and worst deeds in explicit detail. This is perhaps most strikingly done with the sequence of scenes wherein the group are trapped in the Void’s haunting alternate dimension, which the Thunderbolts* crew have gone into more detail to explain on a story-level and in terms of the logistical efforts to develop the sets and stunts these scenes required.

The Void Scenes In Thunderbolts* Are Some Of Its Most Powerful & Surreal Moments

The Void Scenes Set Up The Dramatic Finale Of Thunderbolts*

While the majority of the Thunderbolts* story takes place in more conventional locations on the MCU’s Earth, the final act of the film sees the Sentry’s more antagonistic other side, also known as The Void, become unleashed in New York, trapping a portion of its citizens and soon Yelena and the rest of the main cast in the alternate dimension of the same name that torments those within it by showing them their most painful memories from throughout their life.

Naturally, this ends up being especially unpleasant for Yelena, who takes a surreal Inception-esque trip through several awful prior moments in her Red Room training and her later struggles after losing Natasha while trying to find Bob and rescue him. This ends up providing a sequence of emotionally gripping and visually striking scenes, as Belova finds herself on a non-linear journey through this memoryscape that forces her to confront her past even as she’s diving through mirrors and bursting through fake walls to try and keep going.

While we don’t get to see what all the team faced in their efforts to regroup, it’s clear nobody has an easy trek through the Void – as indeed even the memory Bob suggests is easiest for him to remain around is one of his abusive father. As such, this sequence not only provides fascinating visuals that underline how dream-like and unpredictable this dimension is, but also leaves you rooting for all the team more than ever before, having gotten an intense look at how much the antiheroes have endured.

Hearing How The Void Scenes In Thunderbolts* Were Made Makes Them Even More Impressive

The Void Scenes Took Immense Effort & Talent From All Of Those Involved

Marvel Entertainment released a behind-the-scenes video on the Void scenes and how they were made in May 16, 2025, providing some fascinating insights into how this part of the movie was put together. Lewis Pullman offers an interesting description of the Void as “endless rooms of places where you’ve experienced the most shame, or grief, in your life“, and then production designer Grace Yun delves into the care taken to make the areas within the Void feel realistic enough that you don’t know whether they’re flashbacks or something more at first, helping set up the surprise of what happens next.

Yun also explains that “it’s a deliberate design to make it feel boxed in“, adding context to both why the Void scenes tend to be in small spaces, or make small spaces out of even logically larger areas. This especially explains the forest we first see Yelena in, which she discovers has walls around it preventing her from going further, underlining the artificial nature of these locations as well as the harrowing sense that the protagonists are stuck in a place being controlled and trapped by a malicious force.

Thunderbolts* director Jake Schreier delves into some of the prospective inspirations for these scenes, and the “practical base” they used for each of these scenes, with practical effects like breakable walls used to build the cornerstones of the fantastical scenes. The fact the different areas Yelena and the team go through each have their own gravity – and aren’t conventionally connected, leading to surreal scene transitions – also becomes significantly more stunning when the set is fully explained, revealing that scenes like Yelena seeing Bob in the mirror were sH๏τ practically despite the impossible geography of the space in-universe.

Since the Void scenes look so natural and flow so well, the challenges of this sequence – and thus the extent of the efforts gone to in order to make the scenes feel right for the film – are easy to lose sight of because of how well they’re pulled off. The comments from several members of the crew about the importance of leaning away from CG where possible and using practical effects and camera techniques instead reinforces both how much thought went into these scenes, and the level of technical skill employed to make things work.

The Behind-The-Scenes Look At Thunderbolts*’ Void Scenes Shows Exactly Why The Movie Works

Thunderbolts* Combining Its Action With The Emotional Stories Of Its Cast Work So Well Because Of The Void

If there’s one thing the Thunderbolts* behind-the-scenes explanations reinforce, it’s the efforts to tie together the emotional core of the movie to the action and imagery of the story itself. While the emotional arcs of characters and the experiences they’re undergoing can sometimes feel like more separate parts of movie stories – and the superhero genre is no stranger to this at times – Thunderbolts* ensures that the blossoming emotional connection viewers have to the characters is at the forefront of its depiction of them escaping Valentina’s death trap base and the Void, and becoming the New Avengers.

While it’s obvious even without the context of the behind-the-scenes commentary and explanations that Thunderbolts* took a huge amount of effort and commitment on the parts of not just its core actors but the wider crew who also played vital roles in making sure its story packed as many punches as it did, hearing more details about this undertaking serve to really drive this home. This is doubly true for the Void scenes, as the film arguably wouldn’t be near as strong without the time and talent used to make this section of Thunderbolts* as good as it ended up being.