Thor: Ragnarok was the Marvel Studios movie that, arguably, brought the spirit of Jack Kirby into live-action more than any other. An early design for Thor‘s gladiator armor would have gone a step further.
Videos by ComicBook.com
Marvel Studios artist Aleksi Briclot shared a look at the early design, featuring a couple of different potential helms for the god of thunder. Take a look below.
“Some early exploration for Thor as a gladiator in the arena in Thor Ragnarok,” Briclot wrote on Instagram. “I’ve already posted some of this here, it’s mainly helmet iterations. The Jack Kirby was a request from the director Taika Waititi who did a tremendous job on this movie.”
Briclot did reveal this version of Thor’s armor previously, with yet another version of the helmet.
“An early concept for Thor in Thor: Ragnarok. Played by the mighty Chris Hemsworth,” Briclot wrote on Instagram at the time. “It was right in the beginning, first round on this character and I was looking for something referring to Jack Kirby. It was a Taika Waititi request and inspiration. At this step, I was only keeping the six disks on his torso.”
Previously release Thor: Ragnarok concept art showed Thor as the King of what remains of Asgard. There was also a more colorful look for Thor’s brother, Loki, an early design for Valkyrie, and early concept art of the demon Surtur, as well as a look at how Korg was created.
If you’re interested in learning how to paint like the artists at Marvel Studios, there’s a book for you. How to Paint Characters the Marvel Studios Way reveals the process of creating characters for the MCU as told by the artists themselves. Here’s a description from Marvel:
“Within the stunning pages of this keepsake book, readers will learn these artists’ favorite tools of the trade, their tips for visual character development, their process of collaborating with filmmakers and other artists on the team, and the costume and props departmentsโand how it all comes together to create seamless film designs! Each five-ten page ‘character study’ will take readers on a step-by-step journey through the artist’s approach to bringing a specific hero or villain to life. Not only will readers get a sense of how each artist works, from their tools to their process, they’ll also get to see how a character’s design was createdโfrom blank page to a final approval!”
Upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe movies include Captain Marvel on March 8, 2019; Avengers 4 on May 3, 2019; and Spider-Man: Far From Home on July 5th, 2019.