Star Wars Episode VII is set to be one of the biggest blockbusters of next year, if not for the decade: the return to a galaxy far, far, away, without the corrupting presence of George Lucas slapping midichlorians all over it, is definitely reason to be excited. Fans have been clamouring to get a piece of the long-awaited new film ever since it was announced but, in true JJ Abrams fashion, he's been playing his cards pretty close to his chest. The only glimpses at the set of Episode VII so far have been through cryptic photos the director has tweeted, a handful of candid shots, and those charity videos they've been doing. This morning, though, fans hit the motherload. The Twitter account Superhero Report managed to source a whole cavalcade of concept art from the upcoming film, revealing the first proper look at what Episode VII could feature. There's too much of the stuff to post here, but what's leaked so far has been jolly exciting. Rumours have been flying for a while now that the film would feature Darth Vader in some fashion, although the context was a little iffy: what with him carking it at the end of Return Of The Jedi, there was speculation that he might either appear in a flashback, or else it would just be his helmet that turns up on-screen. From the looks of the concept art, the latter is true, with some new Sith-like villain clutching his severed head (or mask, maybe), Hamlet-like. Could that be new cast member Adam Driver under the non-severed mask? A lot of the art is a little more open to interpretation, with landscapes and locations that look like they could be Tatooine and the Mos Eisley Cantina (or they could not), and there's a bunch of stuff relating to the new characters. There's also a look at an updated Chewbacca, wielding a robot arm not dissimilar to the one Luke gets fitted with at the end of The Empire Strikes Back; there's some update Stormtrooper designs, along with the above painting of some regular Troopers hanging out in front of a TIE Fighter, implying the Empire isn't quite as dead as expected; the return of ships like the Millennium Falcon and a fleet of X-Wings, possibly in an Endor-based hangar; and a handful of new faces wielding lightsabers...oh, and a new lightsaber with a clawed bottom called a "Wampa Claw saber". So...is Hoth on the cards too? Check out the rest of the art on Superhero Report's Twitter.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
