The MCU universe has some of Hollywood's biggest stars in its ensemble cast. In the beginning, the cast of MCU was a boy's club, but it has since added some major Oscar-winning and gorgeous superstar actresses to its roster. But it turns out that acting talent is not enough to cut it as a Marvel actor. These A-list actresses had to go through rigorous training regimens to get in shape to play your favorite superheroes. Let's take a look at how each one of these actresses gets ripped for grueling days on set. Apparently, you gotta earn your millions when you are part of MCU.
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00:00The Marvel Cinematic Universe is chock-full of strong, fierce women who are on a mission
00:05to help save the universe.
00:07Even as a superhero, all that universe-saving isn't easy.
00:11All your favorite Marvel women put in some serious time at the gym to get in shape for
00:15the war ahead.
00:16Here's how each of them prepared for the battle against Thanos.
00:21Getting competitive
00:23Natasha Romanoff, otherwise known as Black Widow, made her MCU debut in 2010's Iron Man
00:292, played by Scarlett Johansson.
00:31In the eight years between that movie and the release of Infinity War, Johansson has
00:35needed to stay in tip-top shape to portray the deadly assassin in several other movies.
00:40When she spoke to Access Hollywood in 2014, she shared what it takes to get ready for
00:44the Lycra bodysuit.
00:46It's no secret, it's that old, tried-and-true, workout-like-a-dude-and-eat-like-a-rabbit
00:51plan.
00:52She did share, however, that the way she gets through workouts is through friendly competition.
00:56That's right, Black Widow can certainly hold her own against Thor, saying she and star
01:00Chris Hemsworth get competitive in the gym.
01:05Black Ops training
01:06S.H.I.E.L.D.
01:07agent Maria Hill, played by Coby Smulders, made her MCU debut in 2012's The Avengers
01:13and has reprised the role in subsequent movies and in the television series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
01:18To transition from her role on How I Met Your Mother to an operative within an elite government
01:23agency, Smulders said on a 2011 podcast that she wasn't leaving her training up to chance.
01:28She said,
01:29"...I hired this amazing Black Ops trainer to teach me how to hold a gun, take me to
01:33a shooting range, how to hit, how to hold myself, how to walk, and basically how to
01:37look."
01:38In a 2015 interview with Yahoo Health, Smulders revealed that she put in hours of training
01:42with a combination of boxing, spinning, and strength training to get and stay in shape.
01:49Control what you can
01:51Zoe Saldana's portrayal of intergalactic master assassin Gamora began with 2014's Guardians
01:57of the Galaxy.
01:58While Saldana is no stranger to highly physical roles, it's her relatively relaxed attitude
02:03about fitness that might be most surprising.
02:05She told Shape in 2017,
02:07"...between travel, meetings, and shoots, schedules are rough for me.
02:10I try to work out three times a week, but I don't believe in getting on one machine
02:14for 30 minutes."
02:15With that difficult schedule, Saldana can't always work out when she wants.
02:19But instead of stressing over it, she controls what she can.
02:22"...I can't work out regularly, so I compensate by eating a lot healthier than I might otherwise."
02:27Once you have relatively healthy eating habits, your workout can become playing with your
02:31kids, strolling around the neighborhood, playing airplane, or just changing diapers.
02:35But her best workout advice?
02:37Just have fun with it.
02:38"...I think it's always healthy for everyone to just dance in your house or anywhere.
02:43In your car, it doesn't matter."
02:46Jungle boost
02:48Gamora's sister Nebula, played by Karen Gillan, also made her debut in 2014's Guardians of
02:54the Galaxy.
02:55For her first Guardians of the Galaxy outing, Gillan said that she had to work out for two
02:59months prior to the role in an attempt to bulk up.
03:02She added,
03:03"...and then I had to do fight training every day that I wasn't shooting.
03:06They told me that you have to do something 6,000 times before it's second nature.
03:11I didn't manage to do the routine 6,000 times, but we certainly tried."
03:15Gillan had a bit of a leg up for her training in advance of her 2018 Avengers role, though.
03:20She was also working on Jumanji Welcome to the Jungle, which required even more intense
03:24training than she endured for Guardians.
03:28Witch nutrition
03:29Beginning with 2015's Avengers Age of Ultron, viewers were introduced to Wanda Maximoff,
03:35also known as Scarlet Witch.
03:37A product of HYDRA's illegal human experimentation with the Mind Stone, Scarlet Witch is able
03:42to manipulate things with her mind.
03:44But don't think that means she doesn't have to stay in shape as a member of the Avengers
03:48team.
03:49Unlike her co-stars who focused on bulk and tactical training, however, actress Elizabeth
03:52Olsen's focus is on staying lean.
03:55For the first movie, she told Allure that she worked out five days a week with a combination
03:59of ballet, boot camp, and yoga.
04:01For Infinity War, however, her focus was on nutrition, so she worked with a nutritionist
04:05to lose body fat and add muscle.
04:08That meant no gluten, dairy, or yeast across seven to eight high-protein meals each day.
04:15Hand to hand
04:16As of April 2018, Black Panther stars are the most popular in the MCU.
04:22Among them is the hero's sister, Shuri, played by Letitia Wright.
04:25The scene-stealing actress may have spent the majority of Black Panther in a lab, but
04:29Shuri isn't afraid to suit up and fight when the future of her country was at stake.
04:34Wright admitted to ESPNW that it was all new for her, saying,
04:38"...I did a lot of hand-to-hand combat stuff.
04:40It was not crazy, it wasn't grueling, but it was cool to learn how to fight and get
04:44prepared.
04:45It was tough, but we got through it."
04:48Anytime, anywhere
04:50The actress who portrayed Okoye in Black Panther had prior combat experience.
04:55That actress is Danai Gurira, and she's perhaps best known to television viewers as the katana-wielding
05:00Michonne on AMC's The Walking Dead.
05:03And that katana is no joke.
05:05Gurira told Self it's like swinging a five-foot dumbbell.
05:08But even if she's a walker-fighting warrior on that show, she still had to train for her
05:12role as Okoye, who trades Michonne's katana for a spear.
05:16She told ESPNW,
05:17"...to an extent there was some overlap, but it was also very distinct.
05:21It was a lot of hard work and there were times where I was like, I'm never going to get this
05:25twirl."
05:26Gurira also stressed the importance of working out whenever the opportunity strikes, telling
05:30Self,
05:31"...I do it in my garage, my living room, in a pool, and even an underground parking
05:35garage.
05:36It never stops."
05:38Fight training for Mantis
05:41An empath with martial arts training, MCU audiences first met Mantis in Guardians of
05:46the Galaxy Vol. 2.
05:47She'll be joining the other Guardians in their quest against Thanos in Infinity War, and
05:51actress Pom Klementieff certainly takes the training for that role seriously.
05:55Klementieff is no stranger to kicking butt, from mitt work training to monkey abs on the
06:00heavy bag and lots of martial arts training among her workouts, the actress never seems
06:05to slow down.