What Marvel's Korg Looks Like In Real Life
If there's one thing "Thor: Ragnarok" succeeds in, it's giving the God of Thunder (Chris Hemsworth) a great sidekick in Korg. The two meet on Sakaar and quickly become friends as they strike up a revolution on the hostile planet. One of the most memorable characters from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the rock-based creature became a central figure in the backend of Marvel's Phase 3 and Phase 4. The hero pops up in "Avengers: Endgame" as a formidable friend to Thor and is also given a prominent role in "Thor: Love and Thunder." Korg even showed up in a promotional video with Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) to promote 20th Century Studios' "Free Guy," making him a key part of the Marvel brand.
Made of rocks and exceptionally tall, Korg is one of the most unique otherworldly creatures in the ever-expanding world of Marvel. Of course, creatures made of pebbles and rocks (sadly) aren't real, which makes Korg a CG creature. The hilarious character is played by none other than Taika Waititi, who directed both "Thor: Ragnarok" and its 2022 sequel "Love and Thunder." While the six-foot-tall Waititi isn't as large as his Marvel counterpart, the "Thor" character does boast the multi-hyphenate talent's New Zealand accent.
Obviously, Korg and Waititi look nothing alike. However, Waititi did perform the motion capture for the rock creature, which tracked both his movements and facial expressions. As seen in various behind-the-scenes production clips, a still image of Korg's head was placed above Waititi's own to serve as a reference point for where actors should look during filming.
How Marvel brought Korg to life
As seen in the above tweet from photographer Jasin Boland, Taika Waititi had quite the rig when filming Korg scenes for the "Thor" films. Korg has existed in Marvel's comics for decades (the character made his debut back in the '60s), but it's "Ragnarok" that made him a fan favorite. In a 2017 interview with Cartoon Brew, "Ragnarok" visual effects supervisor Jake Morrison revealed that Waititi's interpretation of the character was based on Polynesian nightclub bouncers, whose tall, intimidating statures are rendered null thanks to their soft-spoken demeanors. Because Korg was so relatable to Waititi, it made sense for him to play the gentle giant.
A lot of what audiences see on screen with Korg is Waititi riffing, which proved to be a substantial challenge for the folks who brought Korg to life. "You can't just slow everything down to allow that extra movement on set," Morrison told Cartoon Brew, adding that Waititi's softer movements had to appear larger on screen due to Korg's body. Raphael A. Pimentel, animation supervisor at Luma Pictures, said in the same article that Waititi's motion capture performance was authentically replicated to create Korg. "By focusing first on Taika's performance, animators were able to study subtleties unique to him and essentially extract what would be the essence of Korg throughout the film," Pimentel said.
The hard work definitely paid off, as Korg remains one of the most memorable characters from the "Thor" franchise. "It's comedy," Morrison said. "And if they're taken out of the character for just a second and you look at it and you think, 'Oh, it's just a cg character,' then you've lost that laugh."