Thor: Love and Thunder
As the costume designer of Taika Waititi’s Thor: Ragnarok, Mayes C. Rubeo was already familiar with the thunder god’s lore. In Thor: Love and Thunder, Rubeo was able to use that lore to create the costume for Dr. Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), as she wields Mjölnir and becomes Mighty Thor. “It was based on the old comics,” Rubeo says. “We try to honor those iconic costumes in a way and transport them to a modern era with technology.” Although she doesn’t want to stray too far from the comics, Rubeo’s designs take modern materials into updated look. “The audience is looking for something really amazing, for new materials that are so modern and flexible and versatile,” she says. Since Portman is vegan, it was important to Rubeo that she make her costume out of materials that did not come from animal products. “For the most part, her costumes are plastic and synthetic materials,” she says. “I respect her so much, and the least I could do is to accommodate this to make her costume.” Compared to Mighty Thor’s subdued colors of silver and black, Thor’s appearance in the film has become flashier in response to his ex-girlfriend. “Thor is going through a moment of insecurity,” says Rubeo. “Imagine when an animal wants to be more intimidating—he grows bigger and he gets shinier and brighter.” To highlight this change, Rubeo dressed Thor in what she calls the “insecure Thor outfit,” with vibrant golds and blues as a way of peacocking around Jane. Most of the costume choices are directly inspired by the comics, but Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale) had an important color change. “In the comic books, Gorr was all in black,” says Rubeo. Since black was being used so much in other costumes, she decided that dressing the villain in white would be a great contrast to vibrant colors used with the superheroes. “The villain doesn’t have to be in black to be a villain,” she says, “[white] is also very scary.” As a character that has lost everything and resides in the shadow realm, Gorr’s white outfit matches his pale complexion to create a character that is devoid of any color but still stands out against the shadows he commands. “Sometimes his complexion is whiter; sometimes he has a flesh color but is still very pale,” she says. “It was really striking to see him in this fashion.”