Ever since his casting was first announced, Marvel Cinematic Universe supporters have been desperate to get their first look at Christian Bale as the villainous Gorr the God Butcher in this summer’s sequel Thor: Love and Thunder.
That’s to be expected when the Academy Award winner is regarded as one of the finest talents in the entire industry, one who never gives anything less than 100% to any performance, no matter how big or small the role. It’s also a notable turn for Bale because he very rarely stars in big budget blockbusters, with Terminator Salvation and Exodus: Gods and Kings marking his only non-Batman big budget outings in the last 20 years.
Based on the footage seen in the freshly-released trailer, the big bad of Love and Thunder looks to be an unsettlingly creepy, incredibly powerful, and altogether terrifying force of malevolence. And yet, because we can’t have nice things, the Palpatine and Voldemort criticisms were out in force within an instant, as you can see below.
As recently as a couple of years ago, it would have been impossible to imagine Bale boarding the MCU, which is why everyone is so undeniably excited to see what he brings to the table in Love and Thunder. It looks as though he won’t be making any wisecracks and isn’t an evil mirror version of the hero, either, which instantly assuages any doubts that Taika Waititi will be dipping into the franchise’s overused list of characteristics by which too many villains have been defined.
