When 32 Marvel actors gathered over a weekend at Pinewood Atlanta Studios to celebrate a decade of filmmaking success and to have their photos taken by Jason Bell for the Holiday issue of Vanity Fair, there was something unusual about the lineup. Though many of the cast members were already in town for their work on Avengers 4, and all were in character and in costumes, the looks themselves run the gamut from new debuts to throwbacks. By the end of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Groot, for example, certainly doesn’t look that small anymore. But as Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige explains, costumes no longer make these heroes who they are—though that doesn’t mean there aren’t clues about the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe to be gleaned from at least a few of these looks.

The character most altered, after his harrowing journey through space in Thor: Ragnarok, is Chris Hemsworth’s god of thunder. “When we started Chris Hemsworth on Thor,” Feige told me, “Thor’s hair is blond. He’s got a cape; he’s got a hammer. These are the things that make Thor, Thor. He’s now appeared as that character so many times, Chris Hemsworth is Thor. So he cut his hair, you get rid of his hammer, and it’s still him.”

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Hemsworth, for one, is not complaining about the Asgardian’s makeover. In this shoot, he’s sporting the short hair and scruffy look of Thor: Ragnarok. “The wig—that’s changing,” he told me on the set of Avengers 4. He’s got on a darker, less gilded, and, much to Hemsworth’s relief, less bulky version of the traditional Thor armor he wore in previous films.

Hemsworth says he always knew when he was back on a Marvel set thanks to “the armor, the boots, the whole thing—the uncomfortable state you’re put in, physically” and would have to give himself a pep talk before each film: “deep breath, here we go, this is going to be hot and uncomfortable for four months.” But with the newer modifications, Hemsworth can get his costume on and off quicker than in years past. The hammer and cape—which were broken and torn in Ragnarok—may be back for the photo shoot but that doesn’t mean they’ll return in Avengers: Infinity War. As for Thor’s most significant lost accessory, the eye that was plucked out of his head by Cate Blanchett’s Hela, all that remains of that trauma in our gallery is a light scar running down the right side of Hemsworth’s face.