Awesome new poster by Christopher Nolan The Odyssey it has just been released, and its meaning may be little more than skin deep. The poster shows, we think, Matt Damon as Odysseus, wearing armor and a helmet, for some reason, there seems to be a human spine running down his neck. Here is the poster.
So what does that mean, as the poster makes it into a central image? Is it just to look cool, or is it a hint of Odysseus’ “core” and the strength of his character? However, from Homer’s heroic poem on which the film is based, we know that he had that backbone. The film will show the Greek king on a 10-year journey home after the Trojan War, where he encounters more than a few problems, mythical or otherwise.
But more than that, the poster is also noticeably different from the first image released from the film back in February. Here’s a clip of that.
While most of us were pleasantly surprised by our first look at Nolan’s latest, others were disappointed that Odysseus was wearing a historically incorrect costume. Thanks to the modern cinematic interpretation of ancient Greece, we assume that everyone at that time wore capes and hats dressed like this image. That’s what we expect to see. But in reality it was not.
In fact, the Mycenaean weapons of the time were often made of bronze, with large round helmets made of pig tusks. So, skeleton helmets, basically. They didn’t look like a poster, but they’re arguably more accurate to the period than the picture with the big red hat—and to the description of Homer’s hat that he gives as part of Odysseus’ gear at one point The Iliadwhere he wore one of these boar-bone helmets in a night attack on the Trojans. And, if you know that other history buffs are complaining about that, that makes your next poster a lot more likely to sound like an answer.
However, you may wonder, how do we know all this? However, the main reason was that genuine ancient Greek weapons were found buried in Greece in 1960. Scientists say that these weapons date back to about 3,500 years before that, which is probably when Homer first died. The Iliad again The Odyssey. Then, to make sure it was legal, in 2024, the archaeologists duplicated those weapons with their own skills and conducted tests against them. They see that it works.
“First, we analyzed Homer’s The Iliad and combined the knowledge we extracted with environmental science and biometeorological knowledge to create an 11-hour combat simulation protocol that replicates the daily activities performed by elite warriors in the Late Bronze Age,” Andreas Flouris, an exercise scientist at the University of Thessaly and lead author of the study, wrote in an email to Gizmodo about Homer at the time. The Iliad now it can be seen as real memories, not a poetic dream.”
Which brings us back The Odyssey. This new poster, which focuses on bone, can be read in a few different ways. A character has a backbone; he is the core of the story. It’s a long, treacherous road. Choose your own. But, again, there’s a way to look at it as Nolan responding to people’s criticism of that first picture. Obviously, the filmmaker is aware of historical accuracy and wants it represented in his film. But, again, it’s not a documentary. It’s epic, so it should look cool. And this poster does just that, whether figuratively or literally.
You can see six minutes The Odyssey in select IMAX theaters now. Expect its first official trailer to be released soon. Opens July 17, 2026.
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