Chris Hemsworth’s Thor first introduced the audience to the magnificent world of Asgard. The film’s set design and props received praise from both the critics and the audience. The first job of designer Charlie Wen in the film was to design Thor’s hammer, Mjölnir. The whole film’s design direction hinged on the hammer’s design. Interestingly, Wen explored various radical designs before settling on the simple and comic book-accurate version.
Thor was Wen’s first project with Marvel Studios, after the Head of Visual Development, Ryan Meinerding, hired him. Wen and Meinerding were already acquainted from their days working on video games.
Chris Hemsworth’s Mjölnir Initially Had A Flattened Orb Design
One of the most challenging aspects of producing Marvel movies was designing the costumes, props, and sets. The newly released book, MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios, provides insights into Marvel’s visual department and its working. Initially, most of the visual development works were overseen by Ryan Meinerding. The studio relied heavily on the designer for all the upcoming projects and he decided that he needed more artists to handle the growing workload.
Meinerding managed to convince Kevin Feige to bring in Charlie Wen to split the work. Wen’s first assignment at the studio was designing for the Chris Hemsworth starrer, Thor, starting with his hammer. The studio considered Mjölnir as one of the most iconic elements in Thor comics. Wen came up with not one but a dozen different designs for the studio to consider.
His designs included the simple and comic book-accurate rectangular block design, a blunted axe design, and an orb design with flattened sides. However, Wen was well aware that the more radical designs would result in outlandish rococo-style designs for the entire movie. He personally hoped that the studio would choose something less fancy out of his options.
Lucky for him, Kevin Feige and director Kenneth Branagh opted for the simpler version. It’s hard to imagine Mjölnir in any other shape or design than how it’s seen today. According to the book, Wen also designed the ten-foot suit of armor for the supervillain, The Destroyer, in the film. Although the villain was initially supposed to be entirely CGI, the full-size version was eventually sculpted by Legacy Effects to help the CGI team and the actors.
Charlie Wen Also Simultaneously Worked On The Avengers
While the mounting workload for Ryan Meinerding stopped him from enjoying a personal life, Charlie Wen was attracted to the long lead time in Marvel Projects. During his job interview, Kevin Feige informed Wen that he would also be starting work on The Avengers when hired. Interestingly, the writing for the ensemble film hadn’t begun at that time. Wen stated (via MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios):
“I was sold when [Feige] spoke to me about the long lead time, where I could be developing super-early work on The Avengers, years before development or writing would actually start. But when I came on board, the first agenda was to design the world of Thor.”
Chris Hemsworth’s Thor went on to become a critical and commercial success. The film grossed $449.3 million at the box office and spawned three more films in the Odinson Saga. Thor and other MCU movies are now available for streaming on Disney+.
MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios is out for purchase on Amazon.
Also Read: Thor Originally Wanted Chris Hemsworth to Fight in the Viking Era, Not 21st Century
