Gorr the God Butcher is expected to be in the midst of his bloody crusade against the gods when he bursts onto the scene in Thor: Love and Thunder. Played by Christian Bale, the alien warlord is the next major antagonist for Thor to face in his MCU journey. Driven by his hatred of these all-powerful cosmic beings, Gorr is a villain devoted to ridding the world of all gods.
Marketing for the upcoming Phase 4 movie has provided a small preview of what to expect from Thor’s next big-screen adventure in the MCU. It would seem that sometime after joining up with the Guardians of the Galaxy at the end of Avengers: Endgame, Thor will get himself involved in another conflict of cosmic proportions, except this one will threaten the gods of multiple pantheons – not just the Asgardians. To stop Gorr the God Butcher, a murderous warrior armed with a deadly weapon known as All-Black the Necrosword, Thor will have to team up with Korg, Jane Foster’s Mighty Thor, Valkyrie, and possibly the Guardians.
Exactly what will happen to put Thor on Gorr’s trail in the MCU remains to be seen, but it’s unlikely that Thor’s story will start with the beginning of Gorr’s mission. Looking at his comic history and what’s known about his character, it makes sense that Gorr has been active for centuries. It’s possible that it’s just taken some time for him to get on Thor’s radar. In Marvel Comics, Gorr’s tragic backstory and the loss of his family occurred thousands of years ago, which was what kicked off his divine killing spree. His MCU counterpart’s story may share a similar timeline of events.
Has Gorr Already Killed Other Gods In The MCU?
One of Gorr’s victims was spotted in the first trailer for Thor: Love and Thunder, which serves as a tease of his offscreen activities. Like the character in the comics, it may be that Gorr has been killing off the gods slowly but surely for centuries. As for why it’s taken this long for him to get Thor’s attention, that could potentially be attributed to the size of the universe. Moon Knight’s Egyptian gods and Thor 4’s Olympian gods prove that more than one pantheon is associated with Earth’s history, which says a lot about the number of gods that could be out there in the MCU.
If just Earth alone hosts at least three pantheons, the same could be true for several of the other planets that boast intelligent life. If that’s the case, Gorr could have been slaughtering gods in other parts of the universe when Thor was dealing with villains like Loki and Malekith in the MCU. Gorr could only be emerging now because he’s only recently made his way toward Earth and the surrounding solar systems. By the time Thor fights him in Thor: Love and Thunder, a hundred or more gods could have already died at Gorr’s blade.
