There have been several images released from Marvel’s Thor movie that show off the costumes the Norse gods will be wearing. While more time has been spent talking about Wonder Woman’s costume change, one has to wonder if the Thor costume design will play a role in audiences liking or ignoring the film.
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I was expecting leathermail or chainmail (you know something Viking looking), not Iron Man powersuits…
Not a fan but I can live with it.
P.S.- Why does Hollywood make it so all heroes have to wear black and all armors have to be needlessly complicated?
The costumes look far too plastic to me – it looks too futuristic, rather than mythical. Still, we can hope that some post-filming magic will be worked and the final film will look better.
I think everything looks too clean and shiny. I bet my opinion will change after post production.
Agreed. Since it’s the comic-version of Thor, Odin & co I can live with this.
Still, something a little more Viking-ish would have been nice. Especially for Odin. That golden eyepatch doesn’t do it for me. And the throneroom pic we saw recently looked weird, too. I’d expect Valhalla to be an oversized longhouse with cobblestone floors but not a marble/gold palace…
The only thing that really bothers me is Odin’s eye-patch, but I’m starting to get used to it. Sure, the armor looks like plastic. However, we’re not dealing with a periodic movie. This is a superhero movie. I’m sure there will be touch up’s in the finished product.
These are GODS, they are suppposed to be idealized and larger than life. And Odin is the oldest and greatest of them all. Why wouldn’t he be wearing the best armor, especially for formal things like the scene shows? I like the costumes.
Norse Gods are not like the Greek Gods, the are larger then life yes, but get sick/injured/die and are often depicted with battleworn armor/weapons and dirty.
How well the costumes work depend on the kind of film they are going for, so far I see potential. Technically it all looks fine and in post-production I suspect the plasticky feel will be toned down (Much like in Ironman)
I agree with Ricco. It looks way too futuristic. It needs to look more bronze or Iron age. Hollywood needs to learn that the elegance is in the simplicity.
I agree. They look too greeky. Remember that movie with Antonio banderas the 7th warrior or something? That’s what I was expecting. Big unshaven dirty warriors with big swords axes and hammers… Hollywood….
The 13th Warrior was okay, except for the guy with the breastplate/cuirass which is 14th century armor the Vikings are from wayyyy before that.
Actually most knight/medieval movies have it wrong, they wore chainmail/leathermail, armor is much more modern then what Hollywood would have us believe, oh and gladiators fought mostly naked (it was about seen blood not having them survive).
I think one thing to bear in mind is that the great warriors would dress for battle like they we dressing for glory. If you look at items from antiquity recovered from burials and graves you would often find highly intricate armour and metal work. They dressed for battle like gods. Now the Norse gods were constantly in this state, awaiting the final battle. Why would they not dress in the finest available armour?
for examples take a look at the Sutton Hoo Helmet, which is saxon and directly contemporary with the source material unless I am very much mistaken and then tell me that their armour is out of place.
Helmet precedes the Vikings and the cult of Odin, the Norse Gods fight all the time same with the fallen warriors training for Ragnarok. That’s why they have battleworn armor/weapons.
I disagree. Before they worshiped Christ the Saxons, were followers of the same pantheon. An oral tradition that was passed down in songs and epic poems such as Beowulf. The royal houses would trace there lineage back to Woden or Odin to show their right to rule.
Vikings isn’t the name of a people. It is an action, when the Northmen (so called because they were supposedly from the north) went ‘viking’ they went raiding. Vikings could have been danes, jutes, freisians or from any one of a dozen states in that area. And the pantheon wasn’t just associated with vikings as you put it.
So the helmet may not be completely contemporary but it will serve as a good example. Many amulets shaped as hammers are found from the saxon period that are thought to link directly to worship of Thunir or Thor. Look at the saxon hoard found recently in the uk, they dressed for battle like the were dressing for eternity. To me, the costumes although cleaner than I would like, are correct.
The helmet is still about 100-200 years earlier then Odin as we know him and armor 300-400 years later and the armors we have seen so far are not functional in anyway (dozens of holes or places were a sword/spear/arrow can get stuck instead of bounce off).
The helmet is functional the armors here are pretty but useless, these are only slightly more usefull then Huntres’ no mid section costume.
I said Viking because “Germanic tribes” was sorta vague and Norse mythology is more commonly associated with Vikings anyway (ask any guy on the street).
Tell you what, find me one historical representation that has Odin with anything other then chainmail/leathermail as body armor and I’ll agree the armor seen above isn’t just for looks and make sense historicaly. Otherwise just accept the fact that these are just fantasy armors, which follow the comics which is why they bug me but I can accept them.
… and sometimes I wish I’d lived when it was cool to wear a cape …
The helmet is contemporary with the worship of Odin/Woden. It is not the only of its type and if you do a quick google search for ‘viking helmets’ and look for those discovered by archaeologists you will see many similar.
I don’t believe that people or the film makers are claiming that all warriors of Norse upbringing wore great glorious plate suites of but the greatest and the royal would have worn rich armour of a multitude of designs. Odin in the Norse pantheon is the king of the gods. You can’t realistically be claiming that the king of a pantheon of gods is unable to get hold of some armour of the type often used by Roman warriors?
Thor’s armour makes perfect sense. A mail or scale coat, over which is a leather jerkin with metal plates stitched upon it (however uselessly small) with a pair of leather trews beneath it all. That is how a rich Norse warrior would have dressed.
As for the ‘guy in the street’? I heartily suggest that that is entirely dependant on where the street is. Perhaps living in England with a love of history and that period in particular , a country who have had their share of ‘Norse’ kings, the guy on the street knows a little more.
And by source material I don’t mean the comics but the period these guys were being worshipped.
Boo these costumes. Fail hollywood fail.
I can’t wait for the spin-off:
“Odin and the Golden Pringle of Doom”
Is that Thor or Théoden?
As I said when the image was first posted, these costumes just don’t look good. they fall short of the quality in Iron-Man, Spider-Man, and even X-Men. All of those movies had costumes that looked like they were appropriate for a real-life adaptation of the comic version. Odin and Thor look ridiculous and like the designer was drawing influence from the Batman and Robin movie.
I hope that these costumes are supposed to reflect how out of touch the Norse gods are with the contemporary world. If it is meant as a juxtaposition, and then Thor dresses in a more aesthetically appealing garb, then I will approve of these photos. Seriously, these guys are tough warrior gods, not prissy Roman gods of gaudiness.
The costumes are not as bad as Batman & Robin. I can understand why you don’t like them, but that was an exaggeration.
Not really an exaggeration since I said they look like they were influenced by those costumes, not as bad as them. They have the same over-the-top in a bad way vibe that the Batman and Robin costumes had. Granted, there are no nipples and unless Freya has a costume like Mr. Freeze’s these Thor costumes will not be as bad.