The long-awaited Thor: Love and Thunder trailer dropped yesterday and delivered the goods. We got a tease of Thor’s post-Endgame adventures with the Guardians of the Galaxy, an update on what happened to Asgardian refugees on Earth, and a tantalizing peek at Natalie Portman’s Jane Foster wielding Mjolnir.
But one element we didn’t see was the movie’s villain, Christian Bale’s Gorr the God Butcher. This guy does exactly what you’d expect, with his Marvel comics equivalent embarking on a “deicidal crusade” and slaughtering ‘billions’ of gods across the universe. But while Gorr wasn’t in the trailer, we have seen him in some leaked merchandise.
This has led to some criticism that the MCU version has departed from the cool-looking comics look. Now his creator Jason Aaron (whose comics work heavily influenced Taika Waititi) has said we shouldn’t worry. Speaking on his Substack, he said:
“We haven’t even gotten the first official look at the movie version of Gorr the God Butcher yet. I’ve seen some concerns online about Gorr’s design, based off glimpses of the character’s action figure. As the guy who co-created him, along with Esad, I’ll just say that it wasn’t Gorr’s nose (or lack thereof) that made him the tragic and deeply disturbed God Butcher that he was. Trust in the face of Christian Bale. Need I remind you, it’s a pretty goddamn talented face.”
Aaron has a point. Taking an actor as talented as Bale and smothering him under prosthetics runs the risk of hurting his performance. Previous examples of this going wrong include Oscar Isaac as Apocalypse in the Fox X-Men universe and Christopher Eccleston in Thor: The Dark World.
Bale’s seriousness and commitment to his roles should make for a fun contrast with Waititi’s offbeat style, so MCU fans hoping that his presence will balance out the comedy with some drama and dramatic tension.
Watching Gorr carve through some of the MCU’s most powerful characters should be a rush, and we don’t have to wait too long to see it.
Thor: Love and Thunder hits theaters on July 8.
