Thor: Ragnarok: Exclusive New Look At Thor, Loki, And The Grandmaster

Thor and Hulk are the cover stars of the latest issue of Empire – and accompanying our eight-page feature on Thor: Ragnarok, we've managed to get our hands on a few exclusive images from Marvel's latest. You can get the full meaty goodness by picking up the new issue when it goes on sale on Thursday, but we can share a sneak preview of a couple below – take a look, and click to embiggen.

The first shows Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and eternal mischief-maker

Loki (Tom Hiddleston) reunited, and apparently in Earthy normal people clothes. Note that this is Thor pre-haircut...

The second depicts The Grandmaster (Jeff Goldblum), alongside Topaz (Rachel House, a frequent collaborator of director Taika Waititi).

Speaking to Empire for the new issue, Chris Hemsworth describes this new Thor as “not feeling so otherworldly, with more of a contemporary personality and sense of humour. Anything that felt Shakespearean, Taika just said, ‘Come on, we’ve done that. He doesn’t talk like that anymore.’ There’s a lot of ad lib in this, which there was never really room for before. It’s probably the most fun I’ve had on a Marvel film.”

His fellow cast members are similarly impressed. “Taika’s been so respectful to the mythology,” says Tom Hiddleston, back in Loki green-and-gold. “But he’s injected so much humour into it. He’s given every character truly laugh-out-loud moments without betraying their integrity.” Jeff Goldblum doesn’t hold back. “I fell in love with him immediately. He’sa loosey-goosey improvisational grandmaster himself, so we hit it off. He’s a wonderful and stylish and deeply handsome director. I think he’s going to do something special with this.”

For the full eight-page feature, be sure to pick up a copy of the Thor: Ragnarok issue of Empire, on sale from Thursday 10 August. Want to get your copy days before anyone else? Subscribe to Empire here{ =nofollow}.