Thor: Ragnarok’s alternative looks for Valkyrie and Surtur are (whisper it) maybe better than the finished product

Related Articles

Is Ms. Marvel a mutant? Her MCU origins are tied to the X-Men

July 13, 2022

Skull and Bones could be getting a big reveal and new release date next month

June 25, 2022

Ready or Not is ready again and back on Steam

June 19, 2022

Thor: Ragnarok (opens in new tab) is a bit of a looker. There’s the towering metropolis of Sakaar, plus Thor’s new ‘do, and Gladiator Hulk. All cool concepts, right? They’ve got nothing, though, on the alternate, early designs for Tessa Thompson’s Valkyrie and demon Surtur. You could even make a case that the pair’s fresh, unused looks improve over what we saw in theaters. Let’s take a look…

Coming from both Twitter and Instagram, the movie’s senior illustrator Jackson Sze and visual development supervisor Andy Park saw fit to share a few scrapped pieces of art. And make us all jealous of their talents in the process.

First up, here’s Surtur. His fiery incarnation bookended the movie but I’m all in for this more mobile, kinda Dark Souls-y interpretation. Check out that double-sided blade too. Pointy.

An early take on Surtur. I thought I could bring the fire demon aesthetic closer to Thor’s world by designing him with twisted and forged metal works reminiscent of fantasy armors. – – – Final Surtur design for the film was done by @aleksibriclot – – – – #thorragnarok #surtur #marvelstudios #marvelcinematicuniverse #fire #armor #demon #conceptart #characterdesign #digitalart #digitalpainting #illustration #conceptdesign (opens in new tab)

A photo posted by @jwsze on Nov 20, 2017 at 10:49am PST

Valkyrie’s look is more of a fleshed-out version of her flashback scene involving Hela. In it, we get more of a Norse mythology-inspired look from her Asgardian days. Again, packing a killer weapon that we didn’t really see in action in the final cut. Park even suggests a standalone Valkyrie movie. Yes, please.

Alternate concept design painting I did of the Asgardian look for the Valkyrie. I wanna watch a whole film with @tessamaethompson and the Valkyries of Asgard. Right? pic.twitter.com/Q0FJ7fBW2821 November 2017

See more

It’s a shame we didn’t get to see these two designs. It makes me wonder what else got left on the cutting room floor (or should that be canvas?). FAO Marvel: you could probably fill a whole book with early concept art and I would totally buy it. Just sayin’

You probably have so many questions as to why these looks weren’t included in the movie. For now, you’ll have to make do with 5 questions we had after watching Thor: Ragnarok. (opens in new tab)

Image: Marvel