UPDATE: EW has also released new photos of Tom Hiddleston, Jeff Goldblum and more, and they can all be seen in the gallery below.
Valkyrie and Hela (AKA the Goddess of Death) are suited and booted in the official Entertainment Weekly cover for Taika Waititi’s threequel, Thor: Ragnarok.
Portrayed by Creed breakout Tessa Thompson and Cate Blanchett, respectively, both Valkyrie and Hela will play instrumental roles opposite Chris Hemsworth’s mighty God of Thunder, who’s sporting a cropped new haircut and two fantastical blades in the image below. Yes, Mjölnir is nowhere to be seen, though we fully expect Thor to call upon his trusty hammer when battling Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk on the desolate planet of Sakaar.
As Hemsworth reveals to EW, “[Sakaar is] basically where every wormhole across the universe dumps out its trash, so you get people from all walks of life with all sorts of incredible abilities and powers. No one cares what prince or king Thor may have been in another world. Also, his strength is pretty easily matched with those he finds himself amongst.”
Locking horns with one of his fellow Avengers isn’t the only thing Thor will have to contend with when Ragnarok swings into theaters; there’s also the aforementioned Hela, who bursts free from prison after eons spent behind bars. After training under legendary stuntwoman Zoë Bell (Grindhouse) Cate Blanchett teased that Hela has “been locked away for millennia getting more and more cross, and then, with a mistake, she gets unleashed and she ain’t getting back in that box.”
Such an arc lays the groundwork for a truly spectacular finale in Asgard, and though we’ve caught wind of the film’s comedic elements, director Taika Waititi played down talk that Thor: Ragnarok will suddenly veer off the beaten track.
“I think sometimes people mistake a tonal shift as ‘We’re just going to make some ridiculous broad comedy where no one gives a shit what happens and everyone gets stoned and sits around talking about saving the universe,’ ” Waititi says. “We want people to care what happens and care that the hero succeeds. I think tonally it’s like a slight shift. I don’t feel nervous — I feel good about it.”
Thor: Ragnarok will close out Marvel’s 2017 offerings on November 3rd. Long before the God of Thunder tussles with Hulk and Hela, fans can look forward to the one-two punch of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Spider-Man: Homecoming, which heralds the long-anticipated solo pic for Tom Holland’s Web-Head.