Stuntronics Spider-Man in Avengers Campus!
Disney has just shared footage of Imagineers bringing to life a new experience with Spider-Man at the upcoming Avengers Campus, where he’ll swing above the rooftops of Marvel Land. The video shows test footage of the character in flight, and even in unfinished form it looks pretty incredible.
Anyone who has watched the Imagineering Story on Disney+ should instantly recognize what’s being show in the video below–this is the Stunt Audio Animatronics (or “Stuntronics”) figure. Walt Disney Imagineering Research & Development first released footage of this innovation a couple of years ago, via Stickman, a z-shaped robot capable of performing somersaults while flying through the air.
Stickman evolved into the first Stuntronics figure, an autonomous aerial performing robot capable of accomplishing extreme aerial maneuvers with precision. The Walt Disney Company issued a press release about Stuntronics two years ago, complete with info about the development of the figure and it in action…
Disney Imagineers designed a 90-pound Stuntronics figure to use sophisticated onboard sensors to make its own real-time corrections, all while flying 60 feet in the air. It uses an on-board accelerometer and gyroscope arrays supported by laser range finding.
Here’s the original Walt Disney Imagineering research & development test video:
The Stuntronics figure is launched from a wire to fly through the air, and knows when to tuck its knees to perform a somersault, when to pull its arms to twist, and even when to slow down its spin to make sure it sticks that perfect landing. (At the time, “perfect landing” meant into a net–it’ll be interesting to see whether that’s still the case.)
Even at the time, it was rumored that Stuntronics would be used in Marvel Land, likely either as Spider-Man or Iron Man. What was then unclear was where and how. Based on the video below, we now have at least partial answers to those questions:
Other questions remain, such as how the Stuntronics Spider-Man will be launched (there is a giant hook on top of the building, so that’s a decent hint), how often this will happen, whether it’ll be part of a fully-fledged show or a magic moment, and how convincing the effect will appear in person.
The technology is undeniably impressive, and it’s awesome to see Imagineering’s R&D team continue to push the envelope with stuff like this. With that said, I always temper my expectations when it comes to technology like this. I think there will certainly be a wow-factor to seeing Spider-Man fly and perform stunts over the buildings, but hopefully there’s more to it than just that.
We’ve seen other impressive tech squandered or abandoned (Lucky the Dinosaur and the hopping Luxo Jr. Audio Animatronics figure at Walt Disney World come to mind), and I really hope this Stuntronics Spider-Man is more than just a quick wow moment. Ideally something more elaborate and story-driven.
Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance is a good example of bleeding edge technology in service of an overall experience. While you’re cognizant of some impressive effects that prompt a how did they do that?! reaction, just as often the technology fades into the background to allow full suspension of disbelief. It’d be great if the primary reaction to this isn’t, “how’d they make that Spider-Man robot flip and pose like that?”
Admittedly, I’ve been skeptical and critical of Avengers Campus and am still far from sold on the concept. This is in large part because I think it has a tough act to follow with Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance (and Galaxy’s Edge as a whole, for that matter). World of Color, Cars Land, and Buena Vista Street were great additions, but it’s been a while and Disney California Adventure hasn’t received any excellent additions since.
DCA is in need of a shot in the arm, and I question whether the “next generation” of Toy Story Mania and the other stuff in phase one of Avengers Campus will deliver that. Construction still has not started on the second phase of Marvel Land, which will contain the flagship Avengers Headquarters E-Ticket attraction. (That’s the ride where guests will step on board a Quinjet and fly alongside the Avengers in an epic adventure to Wakanda.)
Last year, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge was met with a mixed reaction by guests at least in part because it didn’t debut with its flagship attraction. That was a visually stunning and ornately detailed land, followed up only months later with the revolutionary Rise of the Resistance. By contrast, the first phase of Avengers Campus has an industrial, office park appearance and its blockbuster attraction won’t open for at least 3 more years.
However, this Stuntronics Spider-Man could do the trick in winning over guests–especially if it’s part of a cool rooftop stunt show. Even if it’s not, the Stuntronics Spider-Man will be great for marketing footage, and is perfect fodder for quick clips on social media. Video of this Stuntronics Spider-Man will sell tickets, so mission already at least partially accomplished. I guess we’ll find out how Avengers Campus stacks up at some point in Summer 2020!
As a recap, in addition to the Stuntronics Spider-Man flying above rooftops, Avengers Campus at Disney California Adventure will be anchored by the Worldwide Engineering Brigade, which will house the new Spider-Man interactive web-slinging attraction.
It’ll also feature Pym Test Kitchen, an all-new eatery, where Pym Technologies Researchers are using Ant-Man and the Wasp’s growing and shrinking technology to create super-sized and super small foods. In addition to that, there will be meet & greet locations with Spider-Man, Black Widow, Doctor Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy, Black Panther and the Dora Milaje, Thor and Loki, Iron Man, and Ant-Man and The Wasp.
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Your Thoughts
What do you think of this Stuntronics Spider-Man? Are you already blown away by what you see? Is this alone enough for you to be hyped up for Avengers Campus? Optimistic that phase one of Marvel Land will be something cool? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? Any questions? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
Westworld was a cautionary tale. I, for one, welcome out our new robot overlords.
Personally, I hope Spider-Man swings through the area multiple times throughout the day, adding frenetic energy to the land. It would be cool to see this along with other characters doing various stunts throughout the park. I’d take that over a meet and greet.
Hey Tom,
I know it’s been said “Summer 2020” but do you have any insight into what that would typically mean in Disney terms? Would that be June-July, June-Aug, July-Aug, June-Sept, etc.? We’re heading down there the first week in August and as an avid Marvel fan (I’d be looking forward more to this than Star Wars) I’d love to be there when this is open. I’m too impatient to wait until the office opening date is announced, lol.
In Disney terms, “summer” usually means “we’re aiming for memorial day weekend but are making no promises.”
That said, I would temper your expectations. The Spider-Man ride appears to just be a joyless retread of Toy Story Midway Mania, and the remainder of Avengers Campus is just food, merch, and relocated photo ops from Hollywoodland. The eventual Avengers E-ticket could be awesome, but they haven’t even broken ground on it (and honestly may never build it at all).
Even if you’re an avid Marvel fan and don’t care about Star Wars, Galaxy’s Edge and Rise of the Resistance will still offer a vastly superior theme park experience over phase 1 Avengers Campus.
Andy is correct.
I’d reiterate the point about Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance being vastly superior to anything set to debut with phase one of Marvel Land. It doesn’t matter which franchises you favor–that ride is a pure joy that transcends fandom. If you’re expecting something on par with that in Avengers Campus, you’re in for a colossal disappointment.
Thanks for the replies guys. To be clear I am very excited for Star Wars, I’m just a bigger Marvel fan. Yeah I understand it’s just Phase 1 but I’m sure the experience of being in that area of the park will be fun.
A dragon once flew over WDW. X-wings once flew over Batuu. Once! Even if Spider-man only launches and flies once during a media event, it will attract a lot of attention to Marvel Campus and be worth millions in marketing. However, I sure hope it’s used at least once daily so visitors can experience it for years to come.
I think the case could be made that those one-time media event stunts have just as much potential to improperly set expectations, which then lead to disappoint with the actual guest experience.
However, I cannot imagine that this will be relegated to only a media event. I’d hope that it’ll happen at least several times per day.
This^^^ The dragon in the Diagon Alley section of Universal adds a real level of excitement and energy to the land whenever it breathes fire. The same opportunity exists with this if guests have the opportunity to see Spider-Man fly overhead in pursuit of his next adventure.
I seem to remember that the dragon and the X-wing were never hyped, advertised or talked about leading up to the ONE time they were used. Disney is making an effort to hype this so I think that it’s something that, at this point at least, they’re planning on making a regular appearance.