Christian Bale had already left his mark on the comic book movie realm by playing Batman in Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, but nearly a decade after his time with DC came to a close, the actor is now lending his talents to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Bale is playing Gorr the God Butcher in Thor: Love and Thunder, although Love and Thunder’s first trailer didn’t share any footage of the upcoming movie’s main antagonist. That being said, we’ve gotten some peeks at Bale’s Gorr through Love and Thunder merchandise, and now a newly-revealed piece of mercy has provided a more detailed look at this MCU baddie.
There’s a little over two months to go until Thor: Love and Thunder hits theaters, with the MCU reuniting us with Chris Hemsworth’s God of Thunder three years after we watched him depart Earth with the Guardians of the Galaxy in Avengers: Endgame. It remains to be seen when (or maybe even if) Christian Bale’s Gorr the God Butcher will be shown off in a trailer or TV spot, but for now, there’s this image that was shared by Thor: Love and Thunder News that comes from an Amazon listing for a Love and Thunder t-shirt.
New Thor: Love and Thunder promo art! pic.twitter.com/oCNxK56qXEApril 27, 2022
Illustrated in the style of a comic book cover, we have the MCU’s Gorr the God Butcher ready to face off against Thor Odinson, who’s still wielding Stormbreaker, and Natalie Portman’s Jane Foster, who’s following in her comic book counterpart’s footsteps and becoming The Mighty Thor after getting ahold of the reformed Mjolnir. As far as Christian Bale’s Gorr look goes, he certainly has more human-looking features compared the original version, but he’s still pale white all over and holding a weapon that’s almost certainly the MCU’s take on All-Black, the Necrosword. This will suffice for now, but fingers crossed that Marvel Studios releases at least a snippet of Bale’s Gorr in action soon so we have a legitimate taste of what to expect from him.
Created by writer Jason Aaron (who has assuring words about the MCU's Gorr) and artist Esad Ribic, and introduced in 2013’s Thor: God of Thunder #1, the original Gorr the God Butcher grew up on a planet plagued with famine, natural disasters and dangerous predators. While his people prayed for their gods to save them, Gorr didn’t share the same blind faith, especially after seeing his mother, wife and children die. After acquiring All-Black, the Necrosword, he began his crusade to kill all of the universe’s gods, including Thor. I won’t spoil what happens with Gorr in the comics, but I’m looking forward to seeing how that story compares to what’s in store for Christian Bale’s Gorr.
In addition to Chris Hemsworth’s Thor and Natalie Portman’s Thor teaming up against Gorr the God Butcher, Thor: Love and Thunder other goodies include the return of Jaimie Alexander’s Lady Sif, the debut of Russell Crowe as the MCU’s Zeus, and Thor’s goats Toothgnasher and Toothgrinder being thrown into the mix. Along with reprising the soft-spoken Korg, Taika Waititi also reprised his directing duties for Love and Thunder and co-wrote the script with Jennifer Kaytin Robinson. This will be Christian Bale’s first film appearance since 2019’s Ford v Ferrari.
Thor: Love and Thunder storms into theaters on July 8, but if you’re already looking further ahead into the future, our guide of upcoming Marvel movies has you covered on what else this superhero franchise will deliver in the coming years.
