Marvel Studios Exec Shares Alternate Look for Valkyrie in ‘Thor: Ragnarok’

In a movie dominated with wonderful characters, it’s impressive that Tessa Thompson’s debut as Valkyrie stood out in Thor: Ragnarok. She takes on two distinct looks in the movie’s runtime, going from Sakaar garb to her traditional Asgardian armor, but she almost looked much different.

Marvel Studios Head of Visual Development and all around badass artist Ryan Meinerding recently posted his first stab at Valkyrie’s design to social media. Even though it went through some major changes before appearing on the screen, it still makes the character look epic. Check it out below:

The armor does maintain that Jack Kirby-inspired flavor that permeates throughout the people and places of Sakaar, but it’s also a little too clean. Her finished costume as it appears in Thor: Ragnarok looks more thrown together, which seems fitting for a planet filled with scavengers.

But that face paint and the haircut with the side shave? That’s bad ass. Almost more like a viking than an Asgardian warrior (which isn’t a huge difference, sure, but it’s enough of a distinction to point out).

Thompson stole the show in her scenes, which is hard to do when she’s sharing the screen with Thor, Loki, and Hulk — not to mention the other awesome new characters like Hela, Grandmaster, and of course Korg.

But Valkyrie is a wonderful new addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, one we hope to see in many more movies to come. She’s set to fight alongside the other members of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes when Avengers: Infinity War arrives, but we wouldn’t mind seeing a big-screen take on A-Force…

Thor: Ragnarok is still in theaters. No home video release date has been announced yet.