Christian Bale's Thor 4 Villain May Reveal Love & Thunder's Plot

Christian Bale has been confirmed as the villain in Thor: Love & Thunder, where he will play Gorr the God Butcher, and the character’s history in the comics might reveal some key plot details. Disney surprised its audience with a bunch of announcements from its different franchises during its Investor Day event, and Marvel obviously wasn’t left behind. Marvel Studios revealed a bunch of new projects that will go straight to Disney+ but also a couple of details about its upcoming movies, among those Thor: Love & Thunder.

Thor (Chris Hemsworth) made his MCU debut in 2011 in the movie simply titled Thor, after which he joined the Avengers, but his second solo movie, Thor: The Dark World, did no good to him, and it’s often considered the worst movie in the MCU so far. Thor went through major changes in Taika Waititi’s Thor: Ragnarok, which made way for the God of Thunder to return in a fourth solo movie, titled Thor: Love & Thunder. The movie will also bring back Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson) and Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), who will become the Mighty Thor as she did in the comics. Plot details remain a mystery, but the reveal of the main villain might give an idea of where the story will go.

As mentioned above, Christian Bale will play Gorr the God Butcher, who in the comics had various fights with Thor with the twist of them being separated about a thousand years. Gorr was created by Jason Aaron and Esad Ribic and made his first appearance in Thor: God of Thunder #2 in 2013, so he’s a relatively new villain. Gorr was born on a planet with no name where its residents struggled to survive, as they were on the brink of starvation. He was taught to trust the Gods, but after many tragedies, he didn’t believe in them anymore. This caused him to be exiled, and as he wandered the desert, he saw two Gods battling. These were Knull and a gold-armored God, who begged for help, enraging Gorr. Knull’s sword – All-Black the Necrosword – transformed into an amorphous mass of living darkness that bonded to him, and so he used it to kill the gold-armored God.

Christian Bale playing Gorr the God Butcher in Thor Love and Thunder

After that, Gorr vowed to seek vengeance against all Gods for never answering his prayers, and set out to kill them all. This quest eventually took him to Earth, where he encountered Thor. Gorr nearly killed the God of Thunder, and during a second encounter, Gorr attempted to torture Thor for information about the location of Asgard. Thor was rescued by his Viking worshipers and cut Gorr’s right arm, but he survived. He then spent a thousand years killing more Gods and forming an army and reencountered Thor. Gorr killed the Time Gods and used their blood to take over the timestream, through which he went back to the beginning of the universe to kill the first elder Gods, and later traveled to the future, where he once again came across Thor.

Time-travel and multiple timelines are now a thing in the MCU thanks to the multiverse and the events of Avengers: Endgame, so it wouldn’t be surprising if future movies keep dealing with time and its many possibilities. Surely, Thor could use the help of Jane/Mighty Thor, Valkyrie, and more to deal with a deadly God with the ability to travel to different points in time, and if Thor: Love & Thunder is planned to connect with any of the upcoming Disney+ Marvel shows, it can easily do so thanks to Gorr’s arc in the comics. In fact, it could tie into Loki’s story as the God of Mischief’s TV show will introduce the Time Variance Authority a.k.a. TVA, an organization responsible for protecting the timeline of the universe.

With different timelines created in Avengers: Endgame and Loki, the TVA will have a lot of work to do, and the arrival of Gorr the God Butcher is about to complicate things even more. Thor: Love & Thunder could not only see a lot of destruction thanks to Gorr’s quest to kill the Gods, but also more time-travel issues triggered by a very powerful and dangerous being with a dark goal.

Next: Thor 4: MCU Characters Who Can Appear In The Avengers-Style Cast