Superhero movie lovers were shocked this week when it was announced that former Batman star Christian Bale is in talks for an unknown role in Marvel’s Thor: Love and Thunder. If Bale does sign up for Taika Waititi’s sci-fi comedy adventure, it couldn’t be any more different to his prior dip into the comic book world in Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy. But who could the British actor be up for in the film? Well, fans have put their heads together and come up with a few options so far.
One is Gorr the God Butcher, a fearsome enemy of the Asgardian Avenger’s from the comics. And to help us imagine how Bale could look as the villain, Reddit user Ozycon has shared some fan art that casts the star as Gorr, complete with creepy head tentacles. Digital artist BossLogic, meanwhile, also posted a design of the actor but in this case, he went with Mephisto.
While we haven’t heard anything about Mephisto showing up in the sequel, Gorr has been linked to Love and Thunder in the past, with We Got This Covered’s own sources pointing to him featuring as a supporting antagonist a few months ago. However, as said above, there are a couple of other contenders in the running for Bale’s role as well.
One is Beta Ray Bill, the horse-faced friend of Thor’s who fans have been waiting to see in the MCU for a long time now. He nearly made it into Ragnarok before being removed, so there’s a high chance he could pop up here. On the other hand, Bale could also be up for the part of Dario Agger, the CEO of evil corporation Roxxon – which has appeared in the MCU many times over the years – who can transform into a minotaur.
Bale’s actually the spitting image of the comic book character, too, and what’s more, comic writer – and Agger’s creator – Jason Aaron believes this is the star’s role in the movie. And given that Aaron’s run is a huge influence on Thor: Love and Thunder, he may be onto something.