Why Gorr Really Wants To Kill The Gods In Thor: Love & Thunder

Gorr the God Butcher’s hatred for the gods is displayed in the second Thor: Love and Thunder trailer. Played by Christian Bale, Gorr is poised to be one of the greatest threats Thor and his allies have ever encountered in the MCU. Armed with All-Black the Necrosword, Gorr is set to embark on a cosmic killing spree that puts the gods of every pantheon at risk.

After avoiding him entirely in the first trailer, Marvel has finally unveiled Thor 4’s villain. In addition to revealing his MCU design, the footage in the trailer teased his role in the story. As expected, it’s Gorr’s beef with the gods that will drive Thor: Love and Thunder’s story. In Marvel Comics, Gorr despised the gods and wished them all dead. To that end, he hunted them down and massacred an untold number of gods across various corners of the Marvel Universe. It appears that in the MCU’s interpretation of these events, it’ll be up to Thor, Natalie Portman’s Jane Foster, Valkyrie, and Korg to stop him from achieving his goals. How far he’ll get before they find a way to beat him remains to be seen.

As for why Gorr is so interested in killing the gods, Marvel touched on his reasons in the new Thor: Love and Thunder trailer. In the footage, Gorr said that “the only ones who gods care about is themselves”. This is at the crux of his animosity toward the gods in the comics, but this remark only scratches the surface. In the comic books, Gorr was brought up in a miserable environment. Due to his planet being plagued by starvation, Gorr and his people felt that they had to trust in the gods to solve their problems. However, the deities they worshipped failed to answer their prayers. After losing his loved ones, Gorr concluded that the existence of the gods was a lie. But when he found out that they in fact are real, he grew to hate them for their inactivity.

Gorr’s need for revenge was driven by the idea that their powers gave them a responsibility to look out for those who worshipped them. He blamed the gods for the tragedies that occurred on his homeworld, believing that the gods were too self-interested to protect mortals. Gorr also applied this viewpoint to all gods. The Thor: Love and Thunder trailer suggests he’ll share his comic counterpart’s bitter feelings toward the gods. With that being the case, it’s likely that Gorr’s MCU backstory won’t differ much from what happened in his Marvel Comics origin.

Gorr’s introduction comes at an interesting time, especially when taking into consideration what the MCU is currently doing with Thor. Thor’s comments in the first Thor: Love and Thunder trailer about wanting to use his hands as “tools for peace” indicate that he’s becoming the opposite of what Gorr thinks of the gods. Thor’s opinions on what it means to be a god could be changed tremendously by Gorr’s arrival, which could make him even more determined to use his abilities for good in the universe.