For this trailer I worked on sound design and music, but nothing about it followed the typical superhero formula. The characters have abilities, but they’re not flying through buildings or exploding planets. They’re human, just pushed past the limit. So the sound had to feel powerful, but fragile at the same time, like everything is one step away from breaking.
To get that feeling, I layered small, stressed sounds under each action. When The Beast runs, the main layer is human footsteps, but there’s a faint trace of claws phasing in and out, like another creature is trying to break through. When Dunn lifts someone, instead of a huge cinematic swell, I used recordings of rope strain, chair legs bending, and metal cables under pressure. It keeps the world grounded, but uncomfortable.
To make the environment feel like it’s paying attention, I used reverse reverbs that stop right before the hit, low tinnitus whines, tiny breaths of room tone, the kind of sounds that make your brain tense up without knowing why.
Most superhero fights sound huge and clean. Here, the hits hurt because they’re small, real, and full of effort. No glossy whooshes or big Hollywood punches. Just bodies, breath, and the feeling that everything might snap.
