At last year’s D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event, we learned that Avengers Campus would be expanded in Disney California Adventure Park. The expansion will include the addition of two new attractions, amongst other things. It was also said that Avengers Campus will double in size once it is finished!
During The Future of World-Building at Disney panel at SXSW, President of Marvel Studios, Kevin Feige, and President and Chief Creative Officer for Walt Disney Imagineering Bruce Vaughn, shared more of the storytelling and extensive new technology that will bring these attractions to life.
The Stark Flight Lab will take guests inside Tony Stark’s workshop to explore his latest tech—and even test it out themselves. Robert Downey Jr., who portrays Stark, made a surprise appearance at SXSW, calling the Imagineers working on these new experiences “the living embodiment of the Stark Enterprises mission statement.” He continued, saying, “It’s the privilege of a lifetime to be invited to participate” and that the Imagineering world is “the Area 51 of fun!”
In Stark Flight Lab, guests will sit in ‘gyro-kinetic pods’ and roll along a track before stopping in front of a giant robot arm. This robot arm will hoist you into the air where you’ll make several high-speed maneuvers inspired by Iron Man and some other Avengers. (‘That I will select based on merit and whomever picks up my FaceTime calls on the first ring,’ Downey joked.)
Transferring from a track to a robot arm and then back again – nothing like this has ever been done before in a theme park, and we’re so excited about it. Usually, we hide all the tech behind the scenes so you can focus on the story. Here, the tech IS the story, so we’re putting it front and center.
Bruce Vaughn
A key piece of Tony Stark’s legacy is his trusty robotic assistant, DUM-E. When Robert Downey Jr. first visited Imagineering, he noticed a robotic arm in Stark Flight Lab resembled DUM-E—and just like that, the beloved bot became part of the attraction.
To bring the robots in Stark Flight Lab to life, the team used dancers and motion capture to create a “virtual mirror,” integrating realistic movements into early ride mockups. Their goal? To make these bots feel as lifelike as DUM-E himself.
In the second Avengers Campus attraction, Avengers Infinity Defense, guests will team up with the Avengers to battle King Thanos across multiple worlds. Then, they’ll fight alongside Black Panther, Ant-Man, Hulk, and more fan-favorite heroes to save the universe—again.
