The MCU Sets Up Gorr's Weapon Before Love & Thunder (& How Powerful It Is)

Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Marvel's What If...? episode 2.

Marvel's What If...? episode 2 subtly sets up how powerful Gorr the God-Butcher's weapon can be in Thor: Love & Thunder. Taika Waititi essentially relaunched the Thor franchise in Thor: Ragnarok, and he's returning for a sequel in which the God of Thunder will be faced with the threat of Gorr the God-Butcher, played by Christian Bale.

In the comics, Gorr the God-Butcher was an alien being whose people were failed by their gods. When he stumbled upon a mysterious ancient weapon called the Necrosword - actually created by Knull, God of the Symbiotes - he swore to use it to cut a bloody swathe across the heavens, slaughtering every god in creation. Naturally, this eventually led him to come up against Thor, and he was so terrible a challenge it took three versions of Thor - plucked from different points in the timestream - to defeat him. Given the power levels he operates at, Gorr is one of the most exciting villains in the MCU's Phase 4 slate, but there's just one problem. Marvel has already adapted his weapon, the Necrosword, because it was incorporated into Hela in Thor: Ragnarok.

Fortunately, Marvel's What If...? episode 2 serves to set up Gorr's MCU story rather well. Each episode of What If...? is set in an alternate timeline, where one variable changed the events of the MCU; in the case of episode 2, T'Challa was kidnapped by the Ravagers instead of Peter Quill, and his presence in space led to a dramatic change in galactic power. Thanos retired as a warlord, but the Collector took advantage of the power vacuum created by that to become something of a galactic gangster. This allowed him to expand his collection at a prodigious rate, and among the artifacts he acquired was what he called "a Necrosword, courtesy of the Asgardian goddess of death." The episode therefore confirmed the name of Hela's sword in Thor: Ragnarok - and that it is not necessarily the only one of its kind, for the Collector called it "a" Necrosword.

Hela had clearly possessed the Necrosword for millennia, because she was wearing it in a mural harking back to Asgard's imperial, colonial days. Previously, there'd been speculation about whether the iconic weapon could have somehow survived Asgard's destruction and fallen to Gorr's planet; but if Hela's Necrosword is not unique, then that is not necessary. Gorr could simply have found a different Necrosword, perhaps one wielded by his own pantheon's death god. It's suddenly become a lot easier for Marvel to do a comic-book-accurate Gorr.

Meanwhile, this also chillingly rewrites Hela's power levels. She seemed absolutely unbeatable in Thor: Ragnarok, with Thor literally forced to destroy Asgard to deal with her, but in reality she was a threat because she wielded the Necrosword. That means Gorr should be every bit as powerful as Hela, able to tear through the Asgardians with ruthless, relentless ease. And given the surviving Asgardians are sheltering at New Asgard in Tønsberg, Norway, Thor can't blow up a planet to stop Gorr. Fortunately, Marvel's What If...? episode 2 also revealed a weakness to the Necrosword - it is possible to destroy it by striking its skull-cap part. It's possible Thor will take advantage of this in Thor: Love & Thunder.

More: Every MCU Easter Egg In What If? Episode 2

Marvel's What If...? releases new episodes Wednesdays on Disney+.