Captain America: Civil War Technology Design

As post production was wrapping up on Captain America: Civil War, Marvel Studios reached out to us with an urgent request: how do we marry the classic and iconic ‘Spidey-Signal’ with the bleeding edge technology, purpose, and the spirit of Tony Stark? This short, but powerful scene was to be shown as the final post credit moment of the summer blockbuster, and one of the most talked about scenes in the film.

Within a very tight turnaround, our team developed a range of visual concepts displaying the Spidey Signal. We tinkered with several aesthetics and purposes— from tactical X-rays to playful social media. Presenting a wide range of concepts turbocharged the process. Kevin Feige and Civil War directors, Joe & Anthony Russo quickly focused on an ideal approach. Minor tweaks were made, and the elements were integrated into the final film before we knew it.

Although this element appears in the film briefly, we used it as an opportunity to introduce features and functions that could be taken advantage of in subsequent films. By designing concepts beyond futuristic eye-candy, we unlocked possibilities for the directors, writers and producers at Marvel. Each design started as flat artwork, and these approaches give clues to the various (confidential for now) features that we considered in each design.