Cool Stuff: Marvel's The Art Of Thor Re-Release Digs Into The God Of Thunder's MCU Debut

Last year, Titan Books began a new publishing initiative to dig back into the beginning of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's inter-connected superhero film series known as The Infinity Saga. Starting with "Iron Man: The Art of the Movie," the publisher is re-issuing all of the art books tied to (almost) every chapter of the MCU. "The Art of Iron Man 2" followed earlier this year, and there will be 24 books in the entire collection. Now is the time for the God of Thunder and the shimmering realm of Asgard to take the spotlight.

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This will be the third book getting re-released next week, going behind the scenes of "Thor," a movie that brought us closer to an assembly of Marvel's Avengers and essentially a point of no return for the franchise. Like the rest of the art books, they're being released in a new size to sit nicely on a shelf together, and each of the books will feature the same overarching label that ties them all into The Infinity Saga.

"The Art of Thor" is one of the art books that's a little harder to find on the secondary market, especially if you want a pristine copy, so this is a great way to dig back into the MCU origins of Chris Hemsworth's take on Marvel's God of Thunder. In fact, Titan Books has provided /Film with some of the artwork from inside the book for you to take a look at before the book returns to shelves on April 2, 2024, including the above concept art of Odin's palace on Asgard, illustrated by Wil Madoc Rees.

Get a peek at some other artwork from "The Art of Thor" below.

Within the book, you'll find some incredible concept art that brings the pages of Marvel Comics to life in quite the grand fashion. No location in the Marvel Cinematic Universe has looked more regal than that of Asgard. Sure, an argument could be made for The Sovereign from "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.," but honestly, their pompous attitude makes all of it far less appealing.

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While Asgard is certainly proud, at least they can back it up with wisdom and power, even if it takes Thor a little longer to learn the true meaning of those words. The interiors of Odin's palace are quite golden, especially in the concept art of the banquet hall designed by Nathan Schroeder (seen above), but the rest of Asgard isn't quite as obsessed with the golden color palette as The Sovereign.

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What's most impressive is that you can see how hard the crew of "Thor" worked to bring Schroeder's concept art to life on a practical set for director Kenneth Branagh. Above is an actual production still of the set used during production, and the details from the concept art have been meticulously recreated. From the chandelier to the intricate doors behind the table, the rich tapestry of Odin's palace is truly something to behold, and it's nice to see that such a large, grand set wasn't simply created with visual effects.

As Odin tells his son in "Thor: Ragnarok," Asgard is not a place, it's a people. Even though Asgard ends up being destroyed, the legacy of the realm lives on in the people who endure after Hela and Surtur have completely destroyed Thor's homeworld. Above is artwork by Constantine Serkeris that depicts some of the various citizens you might see walking around Asgard. They're given quite the fashionable clothing, with tunics and cloaks that take shape with belts and gauntlets that give off a Greek gladiator vibe.

If you look at the one on the lower right, that one appears to resemble Chris Hemsworth. Meanwhile, the man on the far left almost resembles a human Thanos. As for the women, they all appear as if they're straight out of a fashion show. Asgardians are fancy! If there was ever any doubt of that, let us remind you what Odin's throne room looks like with some concept art by Vance Kovacs.

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Here, Thor and Loki stand before Odin, both wearing their signature helmets. Sadly, Thor wouldn't ever wear that helmet again. Perhaps the wings are a bit much. But we've seen Loki don that horned helmet many times since the original "Thor" movie. Villains can get away with wearing stuff like that. The golden horns make Loki look more menacing, whereas the silver-winged helmet makes Thor look a bit silly. Do you really want to hide Chris Hemsworth's luscious hair?

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Speaking of which, there was an entire book of Norse mythology that was created for "Thor," which included this image of the God of Thunder himself. Details on who created the artwork for this book were not provided, but as you can see, it takes a cue from various illustrations we've seen from centuries past. It almost looks like it could have been painted on a wall rather than in a book. 

You can pre-order "The Art of Thor" right now, and it will be released on April 2. You can also grab the art books for "Iron Man" and "Iron Man 2," which have already been released. After that, you can keep up with the upcoming roster of all the other movies having their art books re-released. 

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Here's the upcoming schedule as of now, though it's subject to change:

• "The Art of Captain America: The First Avenger" — May 14
• "The Art of The Avengers" — June 25
• "The Art of Iron Man 3" — August 6
• "The Art of Thor: The Dark World" — September 17
• "The Art of Captain America: The Winter Soldier" — October 29
• "The Art of Guardians of the Galaxy" — December 10
• "The Art of Avengers: Age of Ultron" — January 21, 2025
• "The Art of Ant-Man" — TBD 2025

These are the only titles announced so far, but if you're familiar with The Infinity Saga, you know the rest of the movies to expect. However, as we've noted before, what's interesting is that there's no book for "The Incredible Hulk," and if we follow the path of The Infinity Saga through "Spider-Man: Far From Home," that's only 22 books. So what will the other two books in the collection be? We'll have to wait and see.