Watch Marvel’s CG Animated Spider-Man and Iron Man Short from DEADPOOL Director Tim Miller

Deadpool was director Tim Miller’s first feature film gig, and he sure knocked it out of the park! Before that, Miller was a VFX artist and animator for video games and created the DC Universe Online cinematic trailer, which helped land him the Deadpool directing gig. Turns out Miller also had a hand in helping build the success of Marvel’s Iron Man.

Marvel's Chief Creative Officer, Joe Quesada, took to Tumblr recently to reveal that the director played a role in the development and success of the first installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He was hired to create a CG animated short that featured Iron Man, Spider-Man, and Hulk. Iron Man wasn't really a well-known character at the time, and Marvel needed to get kids pumped up for the character because they planned on making the movie.

The short was supposed to do three things:

1. Clearly demonstrate that there was a man inside the armor.

2. Show off his wide range of cool powers.

3. Position him clearly as a hero on the same level as Spidey and Hulk by having those characters show how cool they perceive him to be and valued him as a peer.

Quesada goes on to explain in detail:

“Most people may not know or even remember but close to 10 years ago Tim and I worked on a Marvel project together. As we at Marvel began plans on the first Iron Man movie our focus group research showed that we had some serious awareness issues with the character, especially amongst kids. One of the major takeaways was that kids who had zero knowledge of the character had no interest in him because they thought he was a robot. In early 2007 Marvel assigned a small group of us to create what would eventually be called Iron Man Advertorials: Three animated shorts with a simple clean story that would introduce Iron Man to younger viewers using our two most recognizable characters at the time as bait. Our marching orders were to… Clearly demonstrate that there was a man inside the armor, show off his wide range of cool powers, Position him clearly as a hero on the same level as Spidey and Hulk by having those characters show how cool they perceive him to be and valued him as a peer.

“We also felt that if we really wanted to grab kids attention we needed to go high level CGI and Marvel gave us the budget to do it. This was a huge vote of confidence at that time because things were still tight in those days. That’s where Tim and the incredible team at Blur came in and knocked this assignment out of the park. Working with Tim was a joy (you’d have trouble finding a nicer more creative guy) and immediately his love of all things Marvel and comics was evident. He took the scripts and created beautifully visceral action scenes while never forgetting to keep things lighthearted with the classic Marvel sense of humor running throughout. Attached is episode one, two and three to follow. Considering how long ago these were created and how far computer graphics have come, I think the shorts hold up pretty darn well and what always makes me smile when I watch them are the little bits and pieces that would later come to influence certain moments in our films. See if you can spot them. What’s also fun to see is how even back then Tim’s wonderful and mad cap directorial skill was clearly evident.”

Some of you may have already seen this when it was first released all those years ago, but just in case you didn’t, here you go!