Ranking Every De-aging Movie Effect Ever

In one of Marvel's first forays into de-aging their stars, Captain America: Civil War places all of its chips on the table. Tony Stark's introduction into the film is through a digital recreation of a memory, showing a de-aged Robert Downey Jr.

The boldness of this comes from the fact that it's all done in one shot. Audiences spend several minutes looking at the CGI face, and the sequence is a crucial one. It's Stark's last interaction with his parents before their death, planting the seed for the big emotional payoff during the climax. Yet, it works spectacularly well. The effect has a few bugs here and there, like the hair not looking quite natural, but overall the Russo's use of staging, their confidence in the tech, and Downey's performance all sell the effect.

The film also cleverly builds an in-narrative backup in case the effect doesn't stand the test of time, seeing as it is conjured by the use of Tony's experimental B.A.R.F. tech. Much like Tron: Legacy, this is a meta way around the issue. And unlike Tron: Legacy, this film stays within it's own rules to keep that meta approach consistently applicable to the effect.