Soft Parts Thor's The Avengers movie costume build by Jonus

Despite the fact that I just "finished" building my Jorge suit, I am still making another costume for Halloween. I usually do two: one for trick-or-treating with my nephew, and one for a party. My Jorge build is not exactly party friendly. I can't sit in it, it's really hot, and those friends have already seen it in action at Fan Expo so it's old news. I will be wearing it, however, for trick-or-treating. Last year I made a really crappy suit that was kind of a Master Chief/Noble 6 rushed hybrid. When asked what my nephew wanted to be for Halloween this year he said "What Adam was last year." So we bought him a Master Chief mask and we'll be trimming down my armour pieces to fit him. I was surprised that the chest wasn't bigger on him, so I think it'll work out.

So that still leaves me one costume short for my party. I'm a huge Marvel fanboy, and I loved the Thor movie, and more importantly my wife loved Thor too. There have been a few heated debates between my friends and I about whether it actually was a good film or not. I have a few people on my side, but there are still the stubborn few who turn their noses up and say "it sucks." With that in mind I think it'll be awesome if I am dressed as the god of thunder for our party.

Last night I sketched out the design of his chest plate. This will be the main piece I will work on. I measured my torso, made up a scale and drew guide lines on a piece of paper. I used this image as reference:

Though today I found this one that I should've used because it's even better. The first one shows more detail, but the second is more straight on. It would have helped with the sketch, but at least now I know I have two good ref images for when I start construction.

I didn't think to scan my sketch, but it's nothing spectacular. I just needed to know where I'd be using my rotary tool on the foam. I'm not sure how I'll do it yet. I'll probably do at least two layers, but I think I can fudge a lot of it by beveling edges on one piece of foam.

I already have a cape. A few years back I was King Leonidas:

(I had to work really hard to get those abs)
I'll probably put a piece of foam under the cape coming off my shoulders to get the cool arching effect. Anyone have any tips on how to attach them?

My beard isn't as dark as it looks in the Leonidas pic, I sprayed it dark. I don't know if I'll be able to lighten it enough to look like Thor's though. Anyone know of a quick and temporary way to light beard (ie coarse) hair?

I found a pep file for his ceremonial helmet here. I may or may not make it, but I want to. Same with the Mjolnir pep I found, though I'm less likely to make it because I saw a pretty good one for sale at Value Village.

Anyways, sorry I don't have any progress to show right now, but it is under way. Just looking for a bit of input in the mean time. Tonight I'm going out looking for some leather pants, a wig, and some quilted fabric for the arms. Wish me luck.

Looking forward to seeing this build. Your Jorge build was awesome, and I hope to see how this one turns out too!

I finished construction of the helmet. Sorry, I didn't take progress pics. I will hopefully have it finished tonight. I used the pep file to do the bucket, but I made the wings out of poster board so they could be one rigid piece. I've painted the bucket, but before I did the wings I sealed the edges with white glue so the foam inside wouldn't dissolve. I should have just "glued" the whole thing because when I painted them you can clearly see where there is glue and where there isn't. I actually think the glued areas look better, they have a more metallic reflection to them. So I need to do that tonight, re-paint, then attach them.

I haven't started cutting anything for the chest yet. I've been thinking a lot about how I'm going to do it. I took this image, cropped it to be the size of my chest, then printed it out using posterazor. Now I have a poster of the chest that lines up with mine... or at least it should. I may have miss-measured when I cropped it because it's not long enough. No matter, I'm not even sure if that's the chest piece I'll be doing. I'm thinking I should be looking ahead and make his armour from The Avengers:

There are subtle differences, but it would make me more authentic if I wore it to the opening of The Avengers. Even though he seems to have the same arms as in Thor, in the first teaser he's sleeveless, so I may do that to save time/money:

It'll just make it more obvious that I am much scrawnier than the god of thunder.

Very nice! I had this same idea but i havent started working on the costume yet. I've been spending the last couple months trying to bulk up so I can fill out the costume like he does.

Can't wait to see what you do for your chest piece. I, like you, was thinking about carving it out of a couple layers of foam. As for the curved top on the cape, i think the chest piece is more like a vest and the cape rests on the vest as it goes over the shoulder. So basically i would build a vest to wear under the cape that the front breastplate will attach to. That should give you the arching of the cape as it goes over your shoulder.

haha this will be a fun costume to watch! I liked the Thor movie, it wasn't over the top spectacular but it was definitely a solid movie and they definitely pulled off the fantasy part of Thor very tastefully. Though I don't like how his hair got so long for the avengers looks weird but that's just me.

Syphon said:

Very nice! I had this same idea but i havent started working on the costume yet. I've been spending the last couple months trying to bulk up so I can fill out the costume like he does.

Can't wait to see what you do for your chest piece. I, like you, was thinking about carving it out of a couple layers of foam. As for the curved top on the cape, i think the chest piece is more like a vest and the cape rests on the vest as it goes over the shoulder. So basically i would build a vest to wear under the cape that the front breastplate will attach to. That should give you the arching of the cape as it goes over your shoulder.

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I wish I had the time/dedication to bulk up. Good call about the vest thing. I think my chest piece will only be the chest, no back. The only thing that will go all the way around will be the belt, so it holds the front on better. The cape will cover the back anyway. So yeah, an under vest is a good idea, especially if I go sleeveless.

J326 said:

haha this will be a fun costume to watch! I liked the Thor movie, it wasn't over the top spectacular but it was definitely a solid movie and they definitely pulled off the fantasy part of Thor very tastefully. Though I don't like how his hair got so long for the avengers looks weird but that's just me.

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I agree, about both points. I really liked the movie. I know it's not the best superhero movie out there, but it's still earned a spot as one of my favourites. I also don't like his longer hair for The Avengers, but I guess maybe they did that to show that some time has passed since the events in Thor? He vowed to not cut his goldie locks until he is reunited with Jane Foster? Who knows.

Just so my thread isn't locked for lack of pics (or it didn't happen)... I give you pics!

This is the aforementioned sketch, which is now useless if I go the Avngers route. Plus it wasn't that accurate to begin with. I couldn't tell what the belt was doing, and some of the spacing is off.


Last night I coated my wings with spray adhesive and then when it dried put on another coat of silver. Since there seemed like lots of silver left I figured I should also "glue" the helmet and re-do the silver so all the pieces match. Because of that I didn't have time to attach them all, but here they are individually:


As you can see the wings have a bit of warping and bubbling. When I first sprayed the backsides I used a bit too much and got them wet. When they warped they at least curved up wards, so now it'll look like they curve around my cheeks, so it's not too bad. I'm not too fond of the bubbling, but since this is just for a cheap Halloween costume I don't really care. If this were a serious project I'd probably redo them. They weren't too hard to make, but I didn spend a good chunk of time cutting them out and carving the grooves in them with the rotary tool.

Speaking of cheap, you may also notice that I just left it as paper. Again, I don't mind if it's flimsy because I'll probably wear it once. Plus I think the paper makes it look like they're sheets of metal. I did use a liberal amount of hot glue on the insides for some stability. If it's too wobbley when I attach the wings I may need to do a couple strips of cardboard.

Looks like you got a good start man, even with the bubbling on the wings. Are you shooting for a super accurate and detailed costume, or are you going for a 1-timer that you wouldn't worry too much about it getting ruined. I suppose Thor's hammer would be worth making a true accurate replica prop, can't wait to see more progress shots!

iancorrao said:

Looks like you got a good start man, even with the bubbling on the wings. Are you shooting for a super accurate and detailed costume, or are you going for a 1-timer that you wouldn't worry too much about it getting ruined. I suppose Thor's hammer would be worth making a true accurate replica prop, can't wait to see more progress shots!

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The helmet I don't care too much about because he really only wears it once in the movie, and I doubt we'll even see it in The Avengers, so that piece will probably be a one time use and then sit on my shelf.

So, this update is kinda late and is already outdated. I haven't taken any progress pics in a while, but this is what I have documented:


This is the template I made using an online image, getting as close as a could to a full straight on shot of at least half of the chest, and then mirroring it. I then cropped it to be the exact size it was to be on my chest and then made it into a 6 page poster.

I traced around it with pen on to the foam, and then for the inner details I use a thumb tack to poke holes along the detail lines. (Kind of like how you do those elaborate pumpkin carvings) This what I came up with:



I then used a rotary tool to make those flat lines into grooves:



More pieces cut out:


And this gives you the general idea of what it'll look like put together:


I'm way past this stage now. I've actually used the rotary tool in a few more areas, I've glued, plasti dipped, and painted painted almost everything. I've even made an under-piece for the chest that has the cape pinned to it, and has velcro strips for the chest "plate" to attach to. I've made and painted gauntlets, but haven't strapped them. Pretty much the only thing I need to do is a bit of silver dry brushing on some of the under-piece bits.

I do have a wig, but it needs a haircut. I'll also be dying my beard to be "sandy blonde" so it doesn't look weird having dark facial hair against the golden wig. I also bought Mjolnir. It's much better than what I could have made, and it's not one of those crappy rubber ones they have at Toys R Us. I swear I'll try harder to take more pictures. Our SD card in our camera is pretty full, so I haven't been able to. I guess the only other photos I'll be able to post will just be the finished pieces. Oh well.

Other stuff I'm working on for Halloween are re-strapping pieces from my Jorge outfit, and cutting down my first cardboard armour from last year so it will fit my nephew. I think that project is the most work I have to do still. I have all his measurements, and I'm not going for much accuracy, so it shouldn't take too long. I'm sure there will be some good shots of us together that night that I'll post on here somewhere too.

And here's the finished product:




With my wife, "Dorothy"

I even got to wear it outside for a bit, but I had a few layers underneath, so I look huge.

I'm walking with my nephew who was dressed as Master Chief. I'm holding his mask. Check out my Jorge thread for more pictures of him (and me in my Jorge suit).

Lol! Awesome!

Thor Costume

How did you figure out what size the breastplate would be on you? How did you scale that down? I am trying to make a thor costume as well and I am lost as to the breastplate, how to get the design right and my size.
also, GREAT COSTUME!

I've made this for 10 years, and I suggest for you RonyaSoft. It's better and easy-in use. Try this poster printer