Blade Runner 2049 notwithstanding, Thor: Ragnarok will be remembered as one of the best-looking movies of 2017.
Between them, writer-director Taika Waititi and Javier Aguirresarobe, the cinematographer tasked with bringing Sakaar’s technicolor vistas to life, created a wondrous space oddity for Thor’s third (and final?) solo adventure, and today brings forth a batch of beautiful concept art that allows you to trace the evolution of Ragnarok – from a nascent idea fastened to the proverbial Marvel whiteboard to the critically-adorned blockbuster that continues to exert its dominance at the global box office.
Thanks to Laurent Ben-Mimoun, whose previous credits include Passengers and Alice Through the Looking Glass, below you’ll see early designs for The Grandmaster (Jeff Goldblum) along with Sakaar’s ultra-futuristic skylines. It’s a much more fantastical setting than, say, the grim future-dystopia of Blade Runner 2049, but Ben-Mimoun’s work is no less impressive. There’s also a concept design from Marvel mainstay Andy Park, who fully approves of Taika Waititi’s decision to take the God of Thunder in a radically different direction.
It’s an adventure that whisks our burly hero off on a journey of self-discovery, one which leads him to Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk, a fellow Phase One Avenger who has been rooted on Sakaar ever since the tail-end of Avengers: Age of Ultron.
And though early drafts of Thor: Ragnarok initially featured a romantic subplot between Thor and Tessa Thompson’s Valkyrie, Waititi and screenwriter Eric Pearson decided to cut that proposed story arc in order to give Valkyrie her own story. She is a badass, bisexual Asgardian warrior, after all, so why reduce her to just another superhero damsel in need of a love interest? Thankfully, Waititi and his team decided against the Thor/Valkyrie subplot, and Ragnarok is all the better for it.
Speaking of which, Thor: Ragnarok is now playing in theaters all across the Seven Realms.
