Taika Waititi Shares New Concept Art 'Thor: Love And Thunder,' Teases More Korg And Space Sharks, But No Silver Surfer
Space sharks, insect warriors, and Korg, oh my! Director Taika Waititi's live-watch of Thor: Ragnarok offered us a ton of new details from the upcoming Thor: Love and Thunder, which the Oscar-winning filmmaker will return to direct. The director showed us exciting (but blurry) sneak peeks at concept art for the fourth Thor film while teasing some tantalizing new details about the Marvel Studios film, like the new design of the insectoid warrior Miek, who returns after brief appearances in Thor: Ragnarok and Avengers: Endgame, as well as a script that is "over the top now in the very best way." And of course, the return of Waititi's best role to date, Korg.
See the new Thor: Love and Thunder concept art below, which gives us a glimpse at New Asgard as well as Miek's character designs.
Thor Love and Thunder Concept Art
Waititi kicked off the live stream by sharing new Thor: Love and Thunder concept art (via The Direct) of New Asgard, which is still in Norway following the destruction of Thor's home planet. The surviving Asgardians' new home sits on the former site of Tønsberg, the city built where an ancient battle between the Asgardians and Frost Giants took place, and where Red Skull found the Tesseract in the beginning of Captain America. While the design of New Asgard looks like any old Nordic town, if you look closely at the logo on the building, you can see the text "Mjolnir."
Waititi also shared concept art of Miek, who he confirmed is female. We first met Miek briefly in Thor: Ragnarok as a Sakaaran insectoid warrior forced to fight in the Grandmaster's contests. Miek joined their escape from the planet and ended up in New Asgard, alongside one of Thor's fan-favorite friends, Korg (played by Waititi), who Waititi confirmed will return in Thor: Love and Thunder in an even larger capacity. They may even explore his origin!
See the concept art of Miek, who also seems to have taken on an office job, below.
If the sight of Miek in a business suit is weird for you, Waititi promises that Thor: Love and Thunder will get even weirder. During the livestream, in which he was joined by Thor: Ragnarok stars Tessa Thompson (whose Valkyrie will be returning in Love and Thunder alongside Chris Hemsworth's Thor and Natalie Portman's Lady Thor) and Mark Ruffalo, Waititi teased that the new film will be "over the top now in the very best way":
"It's so over the top now in the very best way. It makes Ragnarok seem like a really run of the mill, very safe film...this new film feels like we asked a bunch of 10 year olds what should be in a movie and just said yes to everything."
One such crazy element: space sharks. "Look up space sharks and that should give you an idea," Waititi said. Technically, they're called "Starsharks" in Marvel Comics — shark-like creatures that live in space and first appeared in Uncanny X-Men #162. So does this mean that there could be a possible X-Men crossover in Love and Thunder? Or maybe the appearance of long-rumored Silver Surfer? Sadly no, Waititi said, debunking the rumor that the popular cosmic character would appear. Waititi was also evasive on whether Tom Hiddleston's Loki would return, and who Christian Bale is playing.
But it sounds like Thor: Love and Thunder will be as wild as its logo. We'll see once we get closer to the Thor: Love and Thunder release date on February 18, 2022.