Everybody loves the Hulkbuster armor from Avengers: Age of Ultron. The moment Tony Stark swoops out of the sky with his big satellite pod and allows the Hulkbuster to assemble around him is one of the highlights of the movie.
But of course fictional character Tony Stark didn't design the Hulkbuster. A real-life flesh and blood human being did that, and we'd like to introduce you.
His name is Josh Nizzi, and he might be one of Hollywood's best-kept secrets.
If you don't know the name Josh Nizzi, you definitely know his work. Anytime Hollywood needs something robotic, something high-tech, something heavily mechanical, Nizzi is one of their go-to guys. He's also a talented character and environment designer.
Nizzi designed many of the Transformers in every movie but the first one. He did several of the armor suits in Iron Man 3. The Falcon's armor and wings from Captain America: The Winter Soldier. The Silver Samurai seen in The Wolverine. The alien ships and technology from Battleship. And just to prove his versatility, he designed many of the environments seen in Django Unchained and The Amazing Spider-Man.
#Hulkbuster concept art for #AgeOfUltron pic.twitter.com/lN4Q7BnMC1
— Josh Nizzi (@N_I_Z_Z_I) June 9, 2015
The Hulkbuster might be his most high-profile work yet. Nizzi is quick to point out that "the effects team made it look a lot better in the film." Be that as it may, the original design came from him. Nizzi recently tweeted out an impressive Hulkbuster concept that we assume is one of many that weren't used for the film. This one's a bit sleaker, a little more scifi, with rounded edges.
Unused #hulkbuster design from #AgeOfUltron pic.twitter.com/7Bfp439py5 — Josh Nizzi (@N_I_Z_Z_I) June 11, 2015
As it turns out, the Hulkbuster wasn't Nizzi's only contribution to Avengers: Age of Ultron. After designing the sky chariots used by the Chitauri in the first movie, Nizzi was given the opportunity to design much more for the sequel. He is responsible for the designs of the Iron Legion, Falcon's new look, Baron Strucker's exosuit soldiers, the satellite pod that held the Hulkbuster armor (below), and parts of Ultron, too.
Mr. Nizzi was kind enough to send along the following exclusive concept art he created for the Iron Legion. He notes that the filmmakers added some extra decal-type graphics to the robots in the movie.
For more of Josh Nizzi's work, take a look at his incredible portfolio at joshnizzi.com.
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