Christian Bale's villain character in Thor: Love and Thunder is finally confirmed, and he has a big connection to Venom. The former Batman in Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy is joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Phase 4. Bale's casting in Thor 4 was reported several months ago, but the identity of his character wasn't known. This led fans to speculate wildly about what hero or villain Bale could play in Chris Hemsworth's fourth solo film.

Some popular suggestions for Bale included Beta Ray Bill and Adam Warlock, but many were hoping that he would play Thor 4's villain. The most popular guess was that Bale would play Dario Agger, the head of Roxxon who transforms into a giant minotaur. However, Marvel Studios has now confirmed that Bale will play the villain known as Gorr the God Butcher. If his menacing title wasn't clear enough, Gorr's primary purpose in the galaxy is to kill "gods." He was one of the main antagonists in Jason Aaron's Thor series a few years back and is now joining the MCU in a major way.

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Gorr the God Butcher comes from an alien planet that believed in praying to the gods but claimed there was no such thing as a god following the death of his entire family. He was cast out from his people and left to wander through the desert alone. It was here that he saw two gods fight and one asked for Gorr's help in defeating the other. With the devastation he experienced, the realization that gods do exist only fueled Gorr's hatred of them. That is when an all-black mass bonded with Gorr and formed a new weapon, the All-Black Necrosword, which Gorr used to slay the god. While Gorr went on to kill many other gods, this origin story directly connects him to Marvel's popular anti-hero Venom.

Poster for the 2018 movie Venom

Marvel Comics eventually revealed that the mass Gorr bonded with was part of the Klyntar race of symbiote. Gorr's symbiote All-Black is the very first symbiote created by Knull and was formed out of the shadow of the ancient cosmic deity. Knull is also responsible for creating the symbiote that bonds to Peter Parker to make the black suit Spider-Man in Secret Wars and later connects with Eddie Brock to become Venom. So far, the MCU has yet to deal with any symbiotes - primarily because they are heavily tied to Sony's Spider-Man characters - but now Thor: Love and Thunder can tie it all together.

Depending on how Thor 4 explains Gorr the God Butcher's past and the history of All-Black, the symbiote could help pave the way for Venom to join the MCU. Tom Hardy has already played Venom in the 2018 solo film and will do so again in Venom: Let There Be Carnage. In fact, a tie-in comic to Venom already confirmed the film's symbiotes connection to Klyntar. There have been no shortage of rumors that Venom could appear in Spider-Man: Homecoming 3 or that Tom Holland's Spider-Man could appear in Venom 2. Although both films will be out before Thor: Love and Thunder, it is possible that Taika Waititi's cosmic adventure could solidify the connection between Gorr and Venom to strengthen the character's ties to the MCU.

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