Loki on Disney+ brought the Void to the MCU. It’s a place where Variants who threaten the Sacred Timeline are served up to Alioth. It’s also a sprawling, decrepit plane of existence that requires a whole lot of special effects to bring to life. From Gator Lokis and giant cloud monsters, to giant battleships and a fully recreated Asgard, it required every trick in the visual effects book to render. And we can see just how much work went into making the Void real in this fantastic new VFX Loki reel from Industrial Light & Magic.
Marvel Studios tasked the team at ILM with a lot more than just glorious purpose. Loki‘s six-episode first season required a myriad of VFX shots in every installment. That was especially true for the show’s fifth episode, “Journey Into Mystery.” It saw Endgame Loki working with his Variants to escape death in the Void. That included hanging out with the adorable but deadly Gator Loki. Which the Industrial Light & Magic team created with a combination of puppets and computers.
That broken down world of castaways also filmed on huge sets. But they still needed massive amounts of visual effects to complete. ILM filled in the sky and horizon for those many wide shots that appeared throughout the episode. And sometimes the effects studio made massive battleships of doomed sailors from nothing.
But the most impressive sequence might belong to Richard E. Grant’s Old Loki. In a triumphant moment of redemption and sacrifice, he conjured a fully realized recreation of Asgard. His selfless act bought Loki and Sylvie enough time to defeat Alioth.
For a visually distinct, important place MCU fans know so well, he had to get the look just right. Fortunately for Old Loki he knew both actual magic and the people who work Industrial Light & Magic.
