Marvel Studios is no stranger to having surprising cameos, but their latest film, “Thor: Love and Thunder,” has a surprise appearance by the grandson of Disney CEO Bob Chapek, according to The Direct‘s Savannah Sanders.
Visual effects studio Rising Sun Pictures shared their process of creating “Baby Thor,” shown during a montage of the superhero’s early years. Senior VFX Producer Ian Cope explained the process for creating the computer-animated character.
The baby is a wholly-digital character, based on the real-life infant of a Marvel executive, created through animation and artificial intelligence. “The advantage of this technique over standard ‘deep fake’ methods is that the performance derives from animation enhanced by a learned-library of reference material,” explains Cope. “The result is a full screen photo-real Baby Thor storming in to battle.”
The IMDb credits for the film show that the appearance of Baby Thor was inspired by Cameron Chapek, the son of Marvel Studios executive Brian Chapek and Bob Chapek’s grandson.
Artist JonayBacallado recently shared their concept art of Baby Thor, carefully secured to his mother, Frigga, on Instagram:
“Thor: Love and Thunder” will premiere on Disney+ this Thursday, September 8th, to mark this year’s Disney+ Day.
For the latest Disney Parks news and info, follow WDW News Today on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.