Thor: Love and Thunder’s Gorr the God Butcher has a deep connection to the symbiotes in Marvel Comics that could have huge implications for the MCU’s future. The second Thor: Love and Thunder trailer finally unveiled its main villain. Played by Christian Bale, Gorr is an alien warrior on a bloody crusade against the gods of the MCU.
Gorr’s comic book backstory creates the possibility that his introduction could lead to further exploration of the MCU’s take on the symbiotes. These alien parasites exist in the MCU thanks to Spider-Man: No Way Home’s multiverse shenanigans. During his brief stay in the MCU, Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock accidentally left behind a small piece of the Venom symbiote. So while Venom himself has gone back to his own universe, the MCU now has the tools to tell its own symbiote story in a future Marvel movie or show. However, it’s possible that this setup wasn’t needed. Earth-616 could very well have its own symbiotes living out there somewhere in space.
Gorr’s upcoming MCU debut has led to discussions about the symbiotes being explored as early as Thor: Love and Thunder. In Marvel Comics, Gorr’s weapon of choice is All-Black the Necrosword, which was revealed to be an actual symbiote. In fact, it was the first of its kind. The evil god known as Knull created it and became its host. After Knull was defeated in battle, the sword fell into the possession of Gorr. As a result, the character became the second host of the All-Black symbiote. It was because of its power that Gorr evolved into a destructive force and a terror to the gods. And given that the sword is the driving force behind Gorr’s stories, there’s a good chance that just as he was in the comics, Gorr is a symbiote host in the MCU.
The MCU has a few options when it comes to handling Gorr’s symbiote link. The trailer confirms the inclusion of All-Black, but doesn’t reveal if the weapon shares its comic book backstory. The weapon is sure to be important to his Thor 4 plan, so Marvel will have to address it one way or another. As for how it might do that, it could confirm that All-Black the Necrosword is a symbiote, change the sword’s origin completely, or keep its real nature ambiguous.
Depending on its approach to the sword, Marvel can use Gorr the God Butcher to continue developing the mythos of the MCU and perhaps even introduce a proper origin for the MCU’s symbiote species. Whatever it establishes about symbiotes in Thor: Love and Thunder could certainly be relevant to future Marvel projects, especially if it plans on ever doing a Venom story with Tom Holland’s Spider-Man. Or, it could be used to set up Knull, whose power level gives him the potential to be a Phase 5 crossover villain.
