The Art of Thor: Ragnarok — Taika Waititi tapped Jack Kirby art for Thor and Hulk showdown

Review by C.J. Bunce

The Art of Marvel Studios’ Thor: Ragnarok is the next look back at a key movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, an entry that had a lot to do. It was the third outing for Chris Hemsworth as Thor. How do you make something exciting? It also was the first big showcase of Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk, and director Taika Waititi made him an equal headliner to Thor. That’s all while bringing back Tom Hiddleston as Loki, introducing Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie, and introducing two new villains: Jeff Goldblum as Grandmaster and Cate Blanchett as Thor and Loki’s sister Hela. In this book that translates to all-new costumes for the leads and new designs for the new characters, all from costume designer Mayes C. Rubio. The 17th movie of the MCU comes to life from its inception to the screen with concept artwork that leans into the original space fantasy of co-creator Jack Kirby, whose vision Waititi said guided his vision. The Art of Marvel Studios’ Thor: Ragnarok is now available at bookstores everywhere and here at Amazon in a hardcover edition as part of Titan Books’ library of MCU movies. Take a look inside below, and take a look back at a unique, fantastic space fantasy.

Surtur is the stand-out creation that comes to the fore in the concept artwork. This is a CGI character that merges humanity’s bipedal nature with flowing fire and plasma, all in a vision of comic book-infused hell. So much darker than Thor: The Dark World, the first chunk of this book is page after page of preliminary designs, all leading toward what made a vision of living and breathing fire and evil for the film.

Next up is giving the right look to Cate Blanchett for Hela. Once they agreed on emerald you can see how they took the color into the costume and developed her horned crown. The next section looks to Scrapper aka Valkyrie and Sakaar, a planet closer to the space fantasy that fans first saw on the screen in Guardians of the Galaxy. Some of the best and most elaborate color work never made it to the screen, but readers can see it all only in the development images featured in this book.

Yes, the Gods get plenty of coverage, but the best comes later in the book via the concept designs for Hulk. The layouts for Hulk battling Thor in front of Grandmaster are why comic book fans want their comics pages on the big screen, larger than life. As you’d expect, look for some thumbnails from the original storyboard art, too. Costume variations are everywhere, along with a view into prop weapon and vehicle designs. Double-page spreads feature the sprawling, colorful new worlds Waikiki’s team adapted from Kirby’s art.

Look for contributions by director Taika Waititi, Marvel chief Kevin Feige, the production team, vice president of production and development Brad Winderbaum, and production designers Dan Hennah and Ra Vincent. Visual development supervisor Andy Park leads the way, discussing the particulars of development for both characters and environments along with visual effects supervisor and second unit director Jake Morrison, costume designer Mayes C. Rubeo, and visual effects producer Cyndi Ochs. You even get a look at some images by Taika Waititi from his personal sketchbook.

If you love Jack Kirby’s classic art, if you love Thor and Hulk, this book is for you. Don’t miss the 16th entry in the new re-issued, re-formatted Marvel movie library, The Art of Thor: Ragnarok, just out from Titan Books and available here at Amazon.

Don’t miss our reviews of other books in the series: Iron Man: The Art of the Movie here, The Art of Marvel Studios’ Iron Man 2 here, Marvel Studios’ Thor: The Art of the Movie here, Captain America: The First Avenger–The Art of the Movie, here, The Art of Marvel Studios’ The Avengers here, The Art of Marvel Studios’ Iron Man 3 here, The Art of Marvel Studios’ Thor: The Dark World here, The Art of Captain America and the Winter Soldier here, The Art of Guardians of the Galaxy here, The Art of Avengers: Age of Ultron here, The Art of Ant Man here, Captain America: Civil War – The Art of the Movie here, The Art of Doctor Strange here, The Art of Guardians of the Galaxy 2 here, The Art of Spider-Man: Homecoming here, and The Art of Thor: Ragnarok here.