Gorr the God Butcher is a Marvel Comics supervillain who appears in American comic books.
Christian Bale will play the character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) film Thor: Love and Thunder (2022), in which he will make his live-action debut.
Thor: Love and Thunder, directed by Taika Waititi, will be the second feature featuring Marvel’s thunder god, and it will be a direct sequel to what the character went through in Avengers: Endgame. However, based on the trailers, Thor: Love and Thunder has a fairly direct source text: writer Jason Aaron’s run of Thor comics. That’s where Christian Bale’s new antagonist comes from.
During the Marvel NOW! initiative, Jason Aaron and Esad Ribic decided to reboot the Thor franchise. Gorr made his debut in Thor: God of Thunder
The female version of Thor, shortly to be represented on screen by Natalie Portman (her true identity as Jane Foster was a well-guarded secret in the comics for a while, but the movie hasn’t bothered with any mystery), was conceived by Aaron and illustrator Russell Dauterman. Malekith, the dark elf played by Christopher Eccleston in Thor: The Dark World was the principal nemesis of Aaron’s Thor story, which spanned six years, many books, and multiple outstanding illustrators, ending in a Marvel-wide crossover event dubbed War of the Realms. So he’s already done in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (and in one of its most-maligned entries, no less). As a result, Love and Thunder have chosen to center on Gorr the God Butcher, the villain whose schemes launched off Aaron’s Thor story.
Gorr is the strongest of all Red Onslaught’s pawns, but he still needs some help to take down Thor. To do so will require a talented team-up between two enemies who have been friends since they first met as children: The God King himself and our favorite Asgardian hero.
This deadly monster, co-created by Aaron and artist Esad Ribi, has a colorful moniker that reveals a lot about him: He assassinates gods! Since gods are known for their strength and immortality, this is clearly not a simple task. Gorr, on the other hand, can kill gods since he has access to an extraordinarily strong weapon known as All-Black the Necrosword. It has a convoluted comics history that I won’t get into here (it involves a lot of Venom), but enough to say that it’s made of living black energy that can exhibit a variety of talents and even twist reality around itself. The new Love and Thunder video gives you a taste of this, as the conflicts between Gorr and Thor appear to take place in a bizarre, black-and-white landscape.
Gorr is a troubled young boy with an dysfunctional family who finds himself in the depths of Asgard. He’s just as powerful and dangerous, but has many secrets that will shape what happens next for him on Earth or beyond it all!
Thor is a powerful god who lived on the planet Earth. One day, he heard an alien child’s prayer and helped end her people’s long drought by helping them get water from Mjonir again; this time however came at great cost because it was revealed that their own gods were dead (taken down) years before due to him having taken away all power over life itself with his killer axe.”
Gorr assassinates which gods? The body of one huge divinity known as Falligar the Behemoth has previously been seen, copied straight from a Ribi comic page. Although Zeus (Russell Crowe) appears to be powerful, we doubt he will make it to the end of the film. And, hey, now that there are two Thors, the cosmos could definitely handle losing one, right?
Gorr kills gods for a reason. He’s a disillusioned believer who saw his family starve to death while praying, hoping that their gods would save them. This might easily convert anyone to atheism, but the disgruntled Gorr also happened to be in the right place at the right time, right when the Necrosword plummeted from the sky. This weapon proved to be ideal for the god-hating alien, who used it throughout the galaxy. Gorr has decided that the universe would be better off without the gods entirely due to what he perceives as their apathy to mundane life. But how many gods can you slay and how much power can you amass before becoming a god yourself…?
Aaron’s Thor story is difficult to track on digital comic sites like Comixology or Marvel Unlimited because it spans numerous comic series (first Thor: God of Thunder with Ribi, then Thor and The Mighty Thor with Dauterman, then The Unworthy Thor with Coipel, and so on…). Fortunately, Marvel has lately published a large hardback omnibus and smaller “full collection” paperbacks that gather everything. They seem like they’ll be a strong foundation for Thor: Love and Thunder.
Gorr had a hard life and was constantly being targeted by wild animals. His mother died protecting him from these dangers, but once he grew up there were even more obstacles in store for this poor boy- his wife died without knowing how much danger her husband faced each day while leading them through their daily chores; then two months later their children also became victim to some unknown illness that left all three dead on Gor’s hands except one still living infant daughter who would eventually go onto marry another man not worthy enough or brave sufficient despite anything ever done
“My name is Gorr, son of a nameless father, outcast from a forgotten world. I have slain my way through multitudes to stand here at the genesis of all things. Blackened by vengeance, wet with holy blood. One simple dream still strong in my heart… The dream of a godless age.” – Gorr
Don’t worry about spoilers: Jane Foster’s storyline and Gorr the God Butcher’s plotline never truly intersected throughout Aaron’s term, so with both of them prominently portrayed in this film, who knows what unexpected combinations will emerge.
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