In Marvel’s Avengers the heroes were voiced by actors who also portrayed the characters’ movements and facial expressions through motion capture. MeinMMO spoke with the actors and voice actors of Thor and Black Widow in an interview and learned some funny details from the game’s production.
Who did we interview? Our two interview partners were actors Travis Willingham and Laura Bailey. Both have lent their voices to the heroes Thor and Black Widow multiple times and were therefore quickly cast as the performers for these two heroes.
Additionally, the two are a couple and have recently welcomed a child. Some of you might also know them from the series Critical Role (link leads to the page), where they play high-quality sessions of the tabletop role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) on camera. The two are true nerds at heart.
Laura Bailey 
Travis Willingham
The interview was conducted by our author Irina Moritz.
Differences between Game and Film
Here’s how the heroes were portrayed: First, we wanted to know how the actors envisioned their heroes. Many fans know Thor and Black Widow primarily from the successful MCU films.
However, both actors agreed that they did not want to copy Hollywood stars Chris Hemsworth or Scarlett Johansson. The heroes in Marvel’s Avengers operate in a completely different story than the films do.
Therefore, Laura was also pleased to give her Black Widow more depth and especially to highlight her emotional side better. Above all, the inner struggle that Black Widow always faces was important to her here.
Travis felt similarly, having portrayed Thor since 2011 in various productions and stating that he sees himself as not entirely unlike a big, strong guy. However, since he was so taken with Chris Hemsworth’s “buttery smooth voice,” he at least tried to emulate his great role model.
Director allows a lot of freedom: Luckily for both actors, the director Shaun Escayg (Uncharted, The Last of Us) was very liberal and allowed the actors a lot of room and space for ideas. At least, as long as it didn’t clash with the rather strict guidelines of the Marvel franchise. However, Travis was often asked, “What would Thor do here.” Therefore, he often gave advice: “They were sometimes a big mess, but also occasionally worth their weight in gold,” Travis noted with a grin.
How Funny Production Work Went
The following paragraphs mainly revolve around the absurd scenes that occur on set when working solely with motion capture.
This refers to a process that allows the movements of a person to be digitized using sensors attached to the body. The person’s movements are then transferred to a virtual character, allowing for realistic animations. Thanks to advanced technology, this can now even work for facial expressions.
To optimally enable motion capture, the actors wear tight spandex suits and devices resembling “antlers” on their heads. This leads to unintentionally funny scenes on set, as the two actors extensively explain in the following text.
That’s why Thor’s hammer was an important topic: One of the aforementioned proposals from Travis was also one of the funny anecdotes he could share with us. Because in numerous scenes, Thor calls his famous hammer Mjölnir to him. The thing then flies into his hand, and he nonchalantly catches it before using it to pummel enemies.
The scene was envisioned very differently by the developers than by Travis:
I wanted to see how they do it when Thor calls his hammer Mjölnir and how it reaches my hand. The crew just said, “Yeah, we’ll handle that in post, just reach out your hand and pretend to catch the hammer. But I said, “No, guys, we’re doing this right!” I want a guy not equipped with [mo-cap] markers to run across the room and press the hammer into my outstretched hand as if I were catching it!”
Travis Willingham aka “Thor”
And that went wrong at least as often as it worked. We even tried throwing the thing a few times … and you know, Thor usually catches Mjölnir when he doesn’t even look. But you should not rely on me catching something that doesn’t even touch my hand. No, that just didn’t work. That was probably the funniest physical obstacle we had to overcome.
How silly everything looked: Laura also had her fun on set. She really enjoyed “watching everyone make fools of themselves.”
I mean, let’s be honest, a bunch of adults in spandex jumping around pretending to be superheroes? That’s always very funny. And the scenes where some of the heroes take off, like Nolan [Iron Man] or Travis, standing on their tiptoes and doing nothing while we have to pretend they’re already gone and in the air. They’re just so funny, Nolan and Troy [Hulk], they’re just a riot. And that lasts like 5 minutes or so, and we really have to try not to laugh.
Laura Bailey aka “Black Widow”
Flying is funny: On the subject of flying, Travis had another anecdote to share:
There will surely be a clip where Nolan [Iron Man] and I take off and fly towards danger. There I am, on my tiptoes, with Mjölnir above my head, and Nolan, as stiff as a board, with his hands outstretched. And then you constantly hear giggling in the background. And you must not laugh. That’s really a challenge to hold through the take without ruining everything.
Travis Willingham aka “Thor”
Here’s how the chemistry on set was: Both actors saw it as very positive that during the production of Marvel’s Avengers they weren’t sitting in a small sound booth but were constantly on set with the other actors. Especially the scenes at the War Table were said to be fantastic. Travis said:
Nothing beats the experience of standing at the War Table with the appropriate posture and voice together with the other actors in their respective roles, planning the next action of the Avengers.
Travis Willingham aka “Thor”
This heightened the feeling of being a real superhero even more.
Ironically, the actress portraying newcomer hero Kamala Khan was also a kind of novice in real life, having never worked with motion capture technology before. Therefore, she actually became somewhat of a student to the other actors, who took her – like their characters in the game – under their wings and taught her everything.
Finally acting again: Both actors praised the possibilities of modern motion capture and that they could finally act as “real” actors again, using more than just their voices.
They have actually already subconsciously assumed an appropriate posture when speaking, and that was now really important.
Actors Play Themselves
Here’s how the two want to play themselves: Since Laura and Travis are big Marvel fans, they definitely want to play the game upon release. However, since the two have a small child, that will be difficult. But Travis already has a plan:
We’ve already planned it. We’re parents. We worked out plans weeks ago: “Okay, from 5 PM to 7 PM, or from 11 PM to 1 AM, you take the kid, and I’ll play for a few hours. Then we switch, and it’s your turn.
Travis Willingham aka “Thor”
Here’s how they react to their own appearance in the game: Since the two are eagerly anticipating the game, we naturally wanted to know if it doesn’t feel strange to suddenly hear themselves speaking in the game. To this, Travis made the following statement:
When the game comes out, the first 30 minutes, I’ll just be crying. Thor stands there, wind in his hair, Mjölnir in hand. It’s so satisfying to see that and then someone opens their mouth, and your voice comes out. It’s such an amazing feeling.
Travis Willingham aka “Thor”
Laura has a slightly different opinion on that:
When I play the game, I don’t actually think it’s me who’s talking. That’s strange, because when I play Thor and someone else is playing Widow, and Widow gets hurt and screams in agony, I think something has happened to me, and I did something wrong in the game. Or it was even more extreme in Skyrim because I voiced one of the companions. Suddenly in the game, you hear yourself getting hurt. That’s crazy.
Laura Bailey aka “Black Widow”
However, they are not afraid of spoilers, as they mainly knew their stories, and the story arcs of the other heroes were only rudimentarily known to them. So this does not hinder the fun of the game.
What they wish for the future: As a final question, we wanted to know what the two actors, as true Marvel fans, wish for upcoming characters – heroes like villains they would like to see. That led to a tough decision for both of them. Travis struggled for a long time about what he wanted from the vast array:
Oh no! There are so many! Why are you putting me through this? This is tough, man! Does it have to be a hero or villain? Both? Okay, that’s tough. I’m thinking of the Hulk, Thanos, Galactus, how the hell is that going to work? Oh man. Okay, I’d love to see the X-Men in there. I’d love to see Wolverine, Magneto, boy oh boy, it’s such a rich universe. Okay, Punisher is cool. Okay, let’s bring in Frank Castle and have the Avengers face off against him. That would be great.
Travis Willingham aka “Thor”
Laura shares his preference for the X-Men:
I would love to see Storm from the X-Men, Deadpool. Scarlet Witch, I’d like to play her, she would be so different from the others. I’m just throwing this out there and hope Crystal Dynamics hears it.
Laura Bailey aka “Black Widow”
Indeed, several upcoming new heroes have been confirmed through datamining. At least Scarlet Witch is, if the leaks are to be believed, on the list of planned additions. Laura’s big dream of embodying this character may soon come true if dataminers are correct.
