‘Black Widow’ filmmakers used military consultants to ensure the flying Red Room base would feel real. The Marvel Cinematic Universe movie was the first solo-project for Scarlett Johansson's Natasha Romanoff, who, despite being a founding Avenger, had only appeared in a supporting role. Black Widow was directed by Cate Shortland and released in July 2021 after experiencing pandemic-related delays.
Set between the events of ‘Captain America: Civil War’ and ‘Avengers: Infinity War’, the film sees Natasha forced to reckon with her past as a ‘Black Widow’ assassin when she receives a package of mind-control antidote from Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), her "sister" from a childhood undercover operation. The Marvel hero discovers that, contrary to her assumption following her defection to SHIELD, the Red Room training facility is still active, and she teams up with Belova to find and destroy the Black Widow program for good. The notoriously hidden Red Room turned out to be a flying base, and the film's final battle involves a lengthy descent as the facility plummets to the ground.
Though comic book audiences are comfortable suspending their disbelief in such situations, Black Widow's VFX supervisor, Geoffrey Bauman, reveals that the filmmakers were still concerned with grounding the Red Room in reality. In an interview Bauman shares that Marvel Studios projects often use military consultants when considering the feasibility of elements such as an aerial base.
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