The beauty of concept art is that it's the road not taken. Despite being discarded by directors and producers before a film starts production, once they're revealed to the public, they tend to capture the imagination of fans who feel it could have been better. That's certainly true of Thor: Ragnarok.

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The 2017 smash-hit reinvigorated the character and brought a bright splash of color - and Kirby - to the MCU. It could have been even more so. Here are ten Thor: Ragnarok concept art pictures you have to see.

10 Kirby Armor

Thor gets a makeover in the movie, moving him away from the Norse god look he'd been rocking for a number of films. This piece of concept art reveals the strong visual influence of Jack Kirby on this film. The telltale Incan lines Kirby employed so often in his work emerge here on the left arm of Thor.

While the final film produced an armor a little less visually busy, the influence of Kirby was everywhere in the movie, especially on the world of Sakaar and its inhabitants.

9 Valkyrie Variation

Before Tessa Thompson was cast in the role of Valkyrie, the concept artists imagined different women in the role. This piece of art features a slightly more punk version of the character. Here Valkyrie looks a little like Natalie Dormer, who played the cunning but ultimately ill-fated Queen Margaery on Game of Thrones. Little of this particular look would manifest in the final film, save perhaps the blue trim, which did end up as the lining of Valkyrie's armor from the final battle.

8 Sakaarian Centurion

Valkyrie's armor took a couple of different roads to get to the final film version. These concept designs, developed with Tessa Thompson in mind for the role, show a heavy Roman centurion influence. The black version is close to her standard Scrapper 142 armor in the film, without the ornate gold helmet of course. The white armor is pretty close to her final Valkyrie armor with its white and gold elements but loses the silver Medieval influence entirely.

7 Ride of the Valkyries

Valkyrie is the only survivor of an entire order of Valkyries, all of whom perished at the hands of the film's villain, Hela. This moody concept art showcases them assembling for their fateful battle with her in the film.

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This version is much more bird-like in design, with a frilly helmet and semi-hanging sleeves. It's also much more Medieval than what ultimately ended up on the screen. The actress imagined in this piece of concept art is hard to make out but doesn't look too different from Emily Blunt.

6 Tim Burton Loki

In this fantastic concept piece by artist Aleksi Briclot, Thor's brother and perpetual pain-in-the-behind Loki's classic horned helm is exaggerated into something that wouldn't be out of place in a Tim Burton film. Combined with the dark background, Loki would be right at home in the worlds of Beetlejuice or Edward Scissorhands. This version seems to go for the more Norse interpretation of the character, perhaps before his role or the colorful, more Kirby-inspired tone of the film was figured out.

5 Sakaarian Color

That color truly comes alive in this piece of art depicting the Sakaarian capital city. Reds, blues, yellows, and oranges all collide into a vibrant, vivid landscape that underscores how alien the planet is. Prior to this, MCU films had been fairly muted in the color palette. Major splashes of color tended to be reserved for the costumes of the main heroes. Once the MCU films started to be filmed digitally as opposed to on film, the color grading tended to dilute the final result. Not so with this film.

4 Interview With The Grandmaster

This early take on the character of the Grandmaster, who would ultimately be played by the bubbly Jeff Goldblum, depicts the character as almost vampiric in nature. The red eyes and the white puffs of hair teased out into horns recall the frightening appearance of Gary Oldman in the Francis Ford Coppola directed Bram Stoker's Dracula. Thor: Ragnarok ultimately went in the complete opposite direction with the character, casting Goldblum and making the Grandmaster a funny, if slightly evil, despot.

3 Hela Yeah

This concept version of the villain Hela, who was revealed to be Thor and Loki's long-exiled sister, is much more menacing than the final version. The basic elements of the costume are there, including the green uniform and Kirby-classic black headdress.

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Except in this art, the headdress is much more organic, and maybe just a little bit like the symbiote associated with Venom in how it looks and behaves. The headdress she wore in the film morphed, but this more alien, oozy, and frightening.

2 Hairy Hulk

Hulk goes through quite the transformation in Thor: Ragnarok. The creative team experimented with that being reflected in his appearance as well in this piece of concept art, the artists imagined a Hulk who let his hair and beard grow out after taking over the shop from Bruce Banner. After being absent for a few films after the events of Avengers: Age of Ultron, Hulk reappears on Sakaar. His primary change in the final film is the armor and body paint he wears as the champion of the gladiatorial arena.

1 Gladiators

These concept illustrations by concept artist Andy Park showcase how visually diverse the film ultimately became. Park presents a gallery of the film's alien gladiators in a police line-up like formation. The Kirby influences are certainly there, as are some hints of Star Wars. The color, clashing and contrasting visual styles, and gonzo-weirdness of the movie are all on display. A number of the final versions of the film's gladiatorial contingent, including the unforgettable duo of Meek and Korg, are visible in the complete set of illustrations, which can be viewed here.

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