Unless you've been living under a pop culture rock recently, you'll at least have heard of the amazing and awesome success of new Marvel Universe world blockbuster, "Avengers: Infinity War." It has tied together the myriad stories of all the solo Marvel heroes and group features in one insane conclusion (we can only guess what "Avengers 4" will bring) and has likewise overtaken "Black Panther" at the money records, box office-wise. Of course, like all superhero blockbusters, the fight scenes are one of the primary reasons one goes to movies like this.

Both wonderful stunt work and crazy CGI enhancements have combined to make some of the most exciting fight scenes in cinematic history. A report by the CBC provided some of the information used in this post.

Chick fights are good fights

The stunt coordinator for "Avengers: Infinity War" is named Monique Ganderton, a Canadian stuntperson who worked in the showbiz industry for nearly 20 years before she got this giant gig. She began in the modeling industry, moved on from there into acting, and in turn from there into stunt work. She has stunt-doubled for such luminaries as Daryl Hannah and Famke Janssen and brought her expertise in the field into this new blockbuster superhero flick. And boy are we glad she did.

I work in the stage combat and stunt industry myself, and i can tell you from personal experience how male-dominated the realm of theatrical violence is. This particular niche in the show business field is mostly populated by men, and when women make a name for themselves as either stellar stunt performers or as choreographers and fight coordinators, it's worth noting and worth celebrating, as it's hard enough for stuntpeople to get the acknowledgment they deserve in the first place (did you know there's no Oscar category for best stunt/stunt performance?!), but in a field dominated by dudes, to have a woman in a celebrated position here is amazing and worth celebrating.

A year and a half of work paid off

Ganderton's job, besides choreographing, setting up, and coordinating the fight scenes themselves, consisted of gathering the other professionals to execute said fights. Stunt doubles, trainers for actors (the actors underwent fight training for about a year and a half out of a nearly ten-year movie creation process), and fight teams were all under her jurisdiction, to organize and make sure everything happened smoothly in a high-stakes production.

Women get some smaller projects to work on, somewhat often, but a gig as large as this? This is extraordinary, and as a female stuntperson myself, I have to raise my glass to Monique Ganderton. Good on you, sister. May we continue to make ourselves less unusual to see in scenarios like that. We need to need more women in the room.
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