Thor: Love and Thunder has finally made its way onto Disney+ after a rollercoaster theatrical run, giving fans the chance to look back on the sequel's wild story and its place in the greater MCU. This includes the vast group of new characters and entities brought to life from Marvel Comics, such as the abstract Eternity from Thor 4's final moments.
Eternity actually turned out to be the sequel's big MacGuffin character, as Christian Bale's Gorr the God Butcher sought to find it in order to eliminate the universe's gods in one fell swoop.
Bringing a character this big into Chris Hemsworth's newest solo movie was no easy task, especially being so abstract with no dialogue and completely being developed through the use of CGI - something of a problem spot for some MCU projects recently. Now, following the film's arrival on Disney+, one of its concept artists shared just how extensive the process was behind finding the look for such a memorable Marvel character.
New Looks at Thor 4's Eternity
Thor: Love and Thunder concept artist Jeremy Love shared six images featuring alternate designs for Eternity from the sequel's final moments on Instagram. Love included the following caption as he shared some of the team's process behind developing this massive entity:
"A few of the many takes we tried for ‘The Gates of Eternity’"
At one point, Eternity stood behind a giant brick structure, almost similar to the pavilion seen earlier in the movie in New Asgard. There was a short set of stairs leading to a blazing pit of fire, with a more intimidating-looking Eternity standing tall above Thor and Gorr the God Butcher.
This structure likely would have been seen more as a shrine to Eternity than it did in the final cut of the movie, especially with how massive the structure is.
The biggest similarity between this structure and the final cut comes with the vast pool of water surrounding the entire surface, which Thor and Gorr would wade through before getting to the stone shrine.
Another version of this location features the same structure but with Eternity standing much, much taller over the movie's core hero and villain, well into the clouds.
Instead of a burning fire, another piece of art features a mystical sphere in the middle of the pavilion that boasts similar colors to Eternity itself.
Love also included another image looking down on the structure, which shows the design of a giant eye in the pavilion.
The final cut of the movie showed only the outline of Eternity with a view of outer space in the body. As for the size, the entity was only about 10-15 feet tall, not towering too much over Christian Bale as he kneeled in front of it, although Eternity is also sitting cross-legged on the ground.
Below is a comparison shot of the concept art next to the final design for Eternity in the movie.
The Long Process for Developing Thor 4's Eternity
Some of the VFX work on Thor: Love and Thunder has raised questions amongst the fan base, especially after Marvel Studios adjusted part of it once the movie hit Disney+. But one visual that's actually been something of a hit was the look for Eternity, who made an impact during Thor and Gorr's climactic moment from a purely visual standpoint.
In the end, while Eternity could have been a huge behemoth towering over Thor 4's hero and villain, the team decided to go with something a little more intimate and less intimidating phyisically. It was still a pretty stunning look at this unique Marvel Comics character, although it changed fairly drastically from its massive original size.
Now that Thor 4 is available for the viewing public in the streaming world, more behind-the-scenes looks like this should make their way to the fans as the story and characters are explored more deeply.
Thor: Love and Thunder is now streaming on Disney+.
