Hayley Atwell's ROGUE TROOPER Character Venus Revealed in New Concept Art
Hayley Atwell is no stranger to comic book adaptations. While fans are gearing up to see her return to the MCU in Avengers: Doomsday, the actress is also stepping into the world of 2000 AD with Duncan Jones' upcoming animated adaptation of Rogue Trooper.
Now, thanks to the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, we have our first look at Atwell's character, Venus Bluegenes, and she looks every bit as tough as fans of the comics would hope.
The newly revealed concept art offers a glimpse of Venus, one of the genetically engineered soldiers created for the brutal war on Nu Earth. While details about her role in the movie are still under wraps, longtime 2000 AD readers already know she's one of the franchise's standout characters.
In the comics, Venus is one of the Genetic Infantry's female counterparts, known as G.I. Dolls. Like the other Dolls, she was originally assigned a non-combat position within Milli-Com and frequently endured unwanted attention from her human male superiors.
Despite that, Venus proved herself to be an exceptional warrior, earning the respect of both her fellow soldiers and readers. She eventually became so popular that she was given her own strip in the pages of 2000 AD.
Jones is bringing Rogue Trooper to life using photorealistic CG animation, but the production process is a little different from what fans might expect. Instead of relying on full-body motion capture, the actors primarily performed their facial expressions and dialogue during an intensive two-week shoot.
Speaking with Variety, Jones explained: "We weren’t recording mo-cap of their bodies, we were only recording their faces and their voices.
“We would have an area blocked out, so we kind of knew what the what the environment was supposed to be, where a scene would take place, but we were only using that as a reference for witness cameras, and then the actual animation we would do later on, after we’d actually already kind of cut the film."
He continued: "There was actually quite a lot of the film where the animation is done by hand, so it’s a real hybrid and way of working where we didn’t have to worry about setting up all of the motion capture for the for the actors."
Production also benefited from some unusual timing. Because filming took place in the UK during the 2023 Hollywood strikes, Jones suddenly had access to actors who otherwise would've been tied up with other projects.
The filmmaker recalled: "We were really fortunate that lots of lots of actors that would have been booked up and on other shows weren’t working, so it was like, 'Hey, have a look at this animatic. Do you want to come and play in this crazy different way of doing an animated movie with Duncan Jones?' And pretty much everyone was like, 'Hell yes.'"
Based on the classic 2000 AD comic series created by Gerry Finley-Day and Dave Gibbons, Rogue Trooper follows Genetic Infantryman 19, the lone survivor of a disastrous military invasion.
Determined to uncover the traitor responsible for the massacre of his fellow soldiers, Rogue sets out across the poisoned battlefield of Nu Earth with three fallen squadmates still by his side. Their personalities live on after death, stored inside his gun, helmet, and backpack.
The film stars Aneurin Barnard as Rogue Trooper alongside Hayley Atwell, Jack Lowden, Daryl McCormack, and Reece Shearsmith. The supporting cast also includes Jemaine Clement, Matt Berry, Diane Morgan, Alice Lowe, Asa Butterfield, and Sean Bean.
With its striking visual style, unique animation techniques, and an impressive ensemble cast, Rogue Trooper is shaping up to be one of the more interesting comic book adaptations on the horizon.
Now that we've finally gotten a look at Atwell's Venus Bluegenes, it'll be interesting to see how much of the fan-favorite character's story makes it into the film.
Rogue Trooper doesn't have a release date yet, as the project is still searching for a distributor.