Marvel Studios Production Designer Charles Wood Explains What Unifies All Marvel Movies

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has grown in leaps and bounds. From a story of a single man named Tony Stark discovering the hero inside (and building the armor to let it out) to the future with as many as 20 heroes uniting against a universe-destroying power, fans have enjoyed the way it's continued to add new heroes. With new heroes have also come other aspects of the Marvel Universe, like the Cosmic and Magical aspects of the world. Through five of those films (and their expansion of the MCU), production designer Charles Wood has been there. He's explored new worlds linked to Asgard in Thor: The Dark World, gone to the far reaches of space and met alien civilizations in Guardians of the Galaxy, brought things (and a city) back to Earth in Avengers: Age of Ultron and bent the world around us in Doctor Strange. Now he's working on the in-production Avengers: Infinity World, which he also teased to would include "many, many, many new worlds." But somehow, with all those crazy variations from film to film, he still sees it all as one Marvel Universe.

NEXT: EXCLUSIVE: Avengers: Infinity War Will Explore Many, Many New Worlds

"The only unifying thing I would say is that these characters, these larger than life characters, our unifying thing is trying to settle them into whatever worlds we find them in, in a way which is viable," Wood told during an interview. "In a way that an audience can look at Captain America, in a Captain America outifit, put him into a farmhouse in upstate New York [in Avengers: Age of Ultron], and believe that guy could exist in that world. Or putting Doctor Strange [in full costume] in a townhouse in New York... The biggest challenge that you take from one Marvel film to another is to try to make these worlds realistic, tangible, viable."

Of course, making things "realistic" while also exploring aliens and alternate realities can be a bit difficult.

"Yeah, it is mad stuff, it keeps me on my toes," Wood said with a laugh.

"The thing about a Marvel film, and I suppose many films, is you can confuse an audience very quickly, and you have to try to delineate one world from another very clearly, without making it feel too delineated."

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