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Industrial Light & Magic has released its official Behind The Magic VFX reel for James Gunn’s Superman (2025), offering an in-depth look at the visual effects work that helped bring the Man of Steel back to the big screen. The reel covers everything from the construction of a fully digital Metropolis to character animation and simulation — a fitting showcase for a film that made the Oscars shortlist and BAFTA longlist for Best Visual Effects, then went on to earn nominations at the VES Awards, Critics Choice Awards, and Saturn Awards.

Building a Digital Metropolis

One of ILM’s most ambitious tasks was constructing a fully CG version of Metropolis. VFX Supervisor Enrico Damm spent several days capturing aerial reference photography over New York City from a helicopter to give the city a believable foundation. CG Supervisor Matt Middleton and ILM’s Sydney studio then built the city in sections, creating hundreds of unique buildings — a deliberate approach to avoid the repetitive, procedural look common in large-scale digital environments. The result gave Metropolis a genuinely organic feel that carried through every shot.

Superman’s Digital Double

ILM built a comprehensive digital double of lead actor David Corenswet using the studio’s proprietary MEDUSA scanning system, capturing everything from muscle and bone structure to cloth simulation data for his cape and suit. In many of the film’s flight sequences, the only element derived from live-action footage was Corenswet’s face — everything else was digitally enhanced or replaced. Since Corenswet portrays both Superman and the villain Ultraman, ILM also developed a custom FaceSwap pipeline, running near-daily scanning sessions with the actor to capture enough performance nuance to convincingly replicate him on stunt doubles during their confrontations.

The Hammer of Boravia and the Engineer

Among ILM’s more technically demanding assets was the Hammer of Boravia — a large metallic object that required extensive shading work to achieve a convincing light response on screen. The Engineer character presented a different kind of challenge, relying on particle-based simulations involving millions of individual objects to achieve the character’s distinctive appearance and movement.

Krypto and the Climactic Battle

ILM was responsible for animating Krypto the Superdog during the film’s climactic battle — one of the more character-driven VFX challenges on the production. The team also tackled an interdimensional rift sequence that required depicting large-scale layered destruction across the Metropolis cityscape simultaneously, pushing both simulation and compositing pipelines to their limits.

Scale and Global Collaboration

ILM delivered approximately 560 shots across its global studios — including San Francisco, Sydney, and Vancouver — using coordinated workflows to keep production moving around the clock. The Behind The Magic reel captures the breadth of that effort, from early previs and real-time sessions with Gunn and production VFX supervisor Stéphane Ceretti through to final composite.

Awards Recognition

Superman ultimately picked up four VES Award nominations — for Krypto (Outstanding Character), the Metropolis destruction sequence (Outstanding Effects Simulations), the Fortress of Solitude (Outstanding Model), and its fight and destruction work (Outstanding Compositing & Lighting) — plus nominations at the Critics Choice Awards, the AACTA Awards, and the Saturn Awards. It made the Oscars shortlist and the BAFTA longlist for visual effects, though neither turned into a final nomination once those shorter lists were announced. The clearest win came at the Astra Creative Arts Awards, where Superman took home Best Visual Effects outright. Avatar: Fire and Ash ended up dominating the season’s top visual effects prizes, including the Oscar, BAFTA, VES, and Critics Choice wins — but Superman’s nominations sweep still marks a strong showing for ILM’s first major contribution to the rebooted DC universe.

Superman (2025) is currently streaming on Max. For the full technical breakdown of ILM’s work, the complete interview with Enrico Damm and his team is available at ILM.com.