We Finally Know Who's Playing Gorr The God Butcher In Thor: Love And Thunder

After nearly a year of rumors, Marvel has finally announced who's playing the villain in Thor: Love and Thunder.

As announced during the 2020 Disney Investor Day presentation, Oscar-winner and erstwhile Batman actor Christian Bale is coming to the Marvel Cinematic Universe to do battle with the god of thunder. Or rather, the gods of thunder, since we already know that Natalie Portman's Jane Foster will take up Mjolnir to become the Mighty Thor. 

Those two will be joined by Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie (who's know the King of Asgard and is said to be looking for a queen to rule beside her), and number of the Guardians of the Galaxy for Thor's fourth solo movie, which also brings back director Taika Waititi from Thor: Ragnarok. Given that Waititi is writing the script for Thor: Love and Thunder, and considering everything we know about his career so far, it seems all but certain that Love and Thunder will follow in the tonal footsteps of Ragnarok. That might make it appear as though taking a role in a movie like this would be a chance for Bale to flex his understated comedic chops — at least until you learn that he's playing a character by the name of Gorr the God Butcher.

In the comics, Gorr began his life as a simple alien on an unnamed and nearly barren planet, trying to ensure his and his family's survival through famine and natural disasters. He prayed to the gods for assistance, and when no help ever came, he concluded that there were no gods and was exiled from his home for the heresy.

While wandering the desert, waiting for death, Gorr witnessed two gods fall from the sky, locked in combat. Gorr, outraged that the gods had been real but had never helped him, took up the weapon of the dark symbiote god Knull and used it to kill the other fighter. Using the power of All-Black the Necrosword (that's what it's called, honest), Gorr embarked on a deicidal rampage across the universe — absorbing the power of the gods he killed and ultimately building a Godbomb that would, once set off, destroy all deities across time and space all at once (via Marvel).

Naturally, this is the sort of thing that would bring Gorr the God Butcher into conflict with the likes of Thor. Multiple versions of him, in fact — from across the eons, per Gorr's "time and space" M.O. It's unclear how much of this backstory Thor: Love and Thunder will use, however. Gorr's ties to the symbiotes might be off the table, since that aspect of Marvel's comics lore is being handled by Sony in its Venom films, but there's a lot to play with here. 

In any case, Gorr the God Butcher is the type of villain who's certain to be more than a match for Thor alone. Good thing he'll have plenty of help.

Thor: Love and Thunder is set to hit theaters on May 6, 2022.