By now, chances are you’ve seen Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and you probably have strong feelings about this film one way or the other. But one thing everyone can agree on is that, from a visual standpoint, the movie looks stunning. Say what you want about director Zack Snyder, the man knows how to make a movie look pretty, and Batman v Superman is no different.

The movie of course also has an incredible visual effects team. Some of these great artists at Studio ADI have released a video showing off how they made one of the film’s most incredible props: the body of deceased Kryptonian General Zod, played in Man of Steel by Michael Shannon.

In the movie, Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg) somehow uses the body of General Zod, mixed in with his own DNA, to create the creature Doomsday (yeah, not sure I get it either). Anyway, to do this, Eisenberg had to spend a lot of time in a weird greenish-yellow pool with the naked corpse of Zod. Only, it wasn’t actually actor Michael Shannon’s naked body. It was actually an extremely realistic replica, one that was made to stand up to the scrutiny of high definition camera lenses.

Now a video has been released by the special effects team at ADI, showing how fitness trainer Greg Plitt (who sadly passed away last year, not too long after this was made) came to ADI for them to lifecast his body from the neck down. ADI’s colleague Barney Burman then lent them a headcast of Michael Shannon. Once the Shannon headcast was copied, both the head and body were run in silicone with a polyfoam fill to make them solid. And boom! You have an instant Zod. You can check out the whole video from ADI above.

What do you think of ADI’s effects work in BvS? Let us know what you think in the comments.

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HT: Studio ADI

IMAGE: Warner Bros.