No beating around the bush on this one: the first image of Chris Hemsworth in costume for Marvel's upcoming Thor movie has made its way online via Yahoo. Other than some shameless, spoiler-filled spy photos that surfaced a day or two ago, this is the first picture to come out of director Kenneth Branagh's epic blockbuster about the Norse god of thunder.

Personally, I'm pretty fond of what I'm seeing here. It's pretty faithful to Thor's presentation in the comics, embracing a fantastical design over something more realistic. To be honest, I was expecting to see something a little dirtier and even slightly rag-tag, so I'm very pleased they're actually going to let Thor look like an actual GOD and not just some guy in standard warrior garb. Hemsworth certainly looks the part and definitely rocks the beard and wig, but I'll reserve my final judgments until after we see him wearing his helmet and wielding Mjöllnir.

Check out the complete image after the jump!