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Now that Loki season 1 has come to an end, we were curious about the history and development of the iconic Loki’s costumes and looks leading up to the series. So we got some inputs from the former Charlie Wen and Anthony Francisco, who worked on the designs for years, to find out more.
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And here is what we found….
1. The “crazy Loki” design was one of the very first Loki that Wen created for Marvel before director Kenneth Branagh was even hired.
2. Kenneth Branagh was responsible for bringing Tom Hiddleston on board as Loki, and this is where the design we’re more familiar with today, began.
3. Even in the first film, you can see many differences between Loki’s armored look and his more casual appearance.
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4. Loki’s collar was inspired by a faux calla lily and has a deep meaning.
5. We bet you probably didn’t know this before, but you get Odin’s helmet when you put Loki and Thor‘s helmets together.
6. The horns on Loki’s helmet in the first film were very vertical, which intentionally matched the upward shapes and design of Asgard.
7. As you go toward the later films, though, Wen started to move toward a more aggressive horn design, one that is thinner and shoots out first.
8. Francisco designed Loki’s open-topped helmet for Thor: Ragnarok. A modernized version of Jack Kirby’s outline.
9. Three major sources inspired Wen’s design for Loki. Obviously, Jack Kirby was first…
11. Then there were all the variants of Loki throughout the comics…
12. Loki, the mythological character, where they tried to fit in as much mythology as possible during the development phase.
13. The original screenplay for Thor was actually more about mythology than comic books, according to Wen.
14. Wen actually wanted to incorporate mythology into the Marvel designs anyway.
15. Wen felt that Loki’s complex personality naturally lent itself to much Norse design.
16. Dark World will also feature more serpentine-like design elements. The design was carried through with Loki, Thor, and Odin and one could even physically feel the tautness.
17. Dark World’s colors were designed to appear “worn” and “used.”
18. Francisco was excited to hear that Taika Waititi wanted a brand-new look for Ragnarok. “I don’t want it to look like Asgard at all.”
19. However, there are still elements from the “old” Asgardian designs of Dark World, such as shoulder armor in Loki’s Costume.
20. ..and this necklace piece as well.
21. In the Ragnarok design, Francisco wanted Loki’s costume design to look unbalanced by using a lot of asymmetrical, diagonal lines.
22. Likewise, the blue in Loki’s Sakaar look symbolizes a more “sad” Loki. At the beginning of the movie he’s green, then he’s blue, then he’s green again…by the end of the movie, he finds who he is.” The yellow on his cape symbolizes the silver lining of Loki’s future well-being.
23. Finally, Visual Development artists go through many, many designs for their characters, sometimes ones that are out there, like the concept where Loki’s Costume was all yellow with green inside.
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