There are three pieces of Marvel superhero equipment I dream of getting my hands on: Captain America’s shield, Thor’s hammer and Iron Man’s armor. I can excitedly cross one of those off the list thanks to the VOID.
Avengers: Damage Control is about the closest I’ll ever get to suiting up like Tony Stark. The Marvel-themed virtual reality experience, which is running in Anaheim and Santa Monica, lets you fire repulsors à la Iron Man and slickly shield like Black Panther thanks to a prototype suit that Shuri (played in the pre-show by Marvel Cinematic Universe actor Letitia Wright) tasks you with testing. Things go awry, of course, and you’ll find yourself blasting and shielding against robots as you fly above cityscapes, all culminating in a battle against Ultron that ropes in seemingly every MCU hero (and, in a couple of cases, their actual A-list voice actors, including Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Stranger, Paul Rudd as Ant-Man and Evangeline Lilly as the Wasp).
The simplicity of suiting up for an experience at the VOID still gives it an edge over every other immersive VR experience we’ve tried, and its comfortably snug vest-and-backpack and VR visor setup feels like it was destined for a superhero experience—with just a tug on a couple of straps, I feel like I’ve suited up with a bona fide piece of Stark-meets-Wakanda tech. And, as you physically move through environments, that’s really all there is to it, with no fiddly controllers or additional motion trackers to worry about.
It’s peak wish fulfillment for any superhero fan: You simply hold your hand out in front of you like you’re high-fiving and you’ll start blasting energy beams from your palm. Hold your forearm straight up like you’re flexing and you’ll instead start wielding a Wakandan shield. Extending the immersion, you can mix and match the two; absorb enough damage with your shield and you can hold out both hands to fire off a super powerful beam (giddy, triumphant cheering totally optional).
The illusion didn’t always hold up perfectly: Activating my left arm’s shield was a little finicky, and my virtual hands didn’t perfectly align with my actual hands when commanding a steering wheel on a jet (oh, yeah, you get to fly a jet). Then there’s the perceived gentle downward slope of a walkway in the Sanctum Sanctorum that’s actually flat in real life—the ever-so-slight disconnect had my whole party cautiously stutter stepping through that part.
But those moments are easy to look past when the experience as a whole is so much fun. Nothing’s blown me away quite like my first trip into the VOID for Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire, but Avengers: Damage Control comes close, and it’s stocked subtle moments of awe that the VOID has exceled at in each of its experiences: when Doctor Strange’s cape flutters past, when a chatty Spider-Man swings right in front of you and when the smell of buttery popcorn suddenly fills the room. It all comes at relatively steep cost for a 20-minute-or-so experience, but for MCU fans, VR first-timers and tech enthusiasts alike, Avengers: Damage Control is an easy recommendation.
Full disclosure: The VOID accommodated me and three guests to review the experience at the Downtown Disney location.
