Who Is The Villain In Thor: Love And Thunder?
Phase Four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is well underway at this point, with Disney+'s "WandaVision" and "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier" in the books and "Loki" one episode in. Unsurprisingly, there are plenty more superpowered stories to be told in this batch of Marvel media, with the likes of "Black Widow" and "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings" on their way to the big screen. Looking beyond 2021 though, there are plenty of titles to be excited about, including director Taika Waititi's "Thor: Love and Thunder," which will premiere in February of 2022.
Serving as the fourth installment in the long-running "Thor" series, little is known about what the film's story will entail. It has been revealed that Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), who has been absent from the MCU since 2013, will take on the Thor mantle at some point, but the original God of Thunder (Chris Hemsworth) will still be front and center. Additionally, fan favorites such as Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson), Korg (Waititi), and several Guardians of the Galaxy mainstays are returning, alongside franchise newcomers Russell Crowe as Zeus and Christian Bale as Gorr the God Butcher (via Den of Geek).
Gorr is set to fill the antagonist role in "Love and Thunder," and even though he's not a terribly well-known Thor villain, he has certainly made an impact since his 2012 Marvel Comics debut. Here's what you need to know about him.
Gorr the God Butcher is a formidable foe with a chip on his shoulder
"Thor: God of Thunder" #2 introduced comic readers to Gorr and his incredibly mundane existence. He was born and raised on a nameless, hunger-stricken planet with strong religious values. He was told to call upon the gods for good fortune, but as he watched his parents, wife, and children die one by one, his faith was shaken. The death of his son Agar led him to the conclusion that the gods weren't real, leading to his banishment from his home. During his exile, he encountered Knull and another god locked in physical combat, changing his life trajectory forever.
Upon learning that gods do exist, Gorr's disillusionment turned into searing hatred. Armed with All-Black the Necrosword, he vowed to kill every god and deity in the universe, doing so with nothing but rage and malice in his heart. This campaign eventually led him to face multiple Thors from across time and space, who put a stop to his plan to create a superweapon known as the Godbomb — an object capable of killing off every single last god. Thanks to King Loki, Gorr returned from the grave sometime later but was once again defeated, this time by Thor Allfather.
Gorr left a lasting impact on his enemies
Even after suffering his multiple losses, Gorr the God Butcher hovered like a dark cloud over Thor's life. Perhaps most crucially, Gorr's philosophy concerning gods rendered Thor unworthy and made it impossible for him to wield Mjolnir, paving the way for Jane Foster to do so in his stead as the new Goddess of Thunder. Not to mention, Gorr's living sword, All-Black, was revealed to be a Klyntar à la Venom that hoped to infect the entire universe. Unsurprisingly, it was unsuccessful and inevitably destroyed by the Asgardian before it could do so.
Relative to most entities in the MCU, Gorr the God Butcher doesn't have a deep, rich character history for Taika Waititi to work from. However, he has steadily proven himself a dangerous, bloodthirsty adversary against all varieties of Thor in his fairly brief run on the Marvel Comics scene. For that reason — coupled with the fact that Hollywood icon Christian Bale is responsible for his first live-action adaptation — Gorr's involvement in "Thor: Love and Thunder" will undoubtedly be a major talking point of the film.