It doesn’t matter one iota that Thor: Love and Thunder villain Gorr the God Butcher is almost a complete unknown outside of the comic book fandom, because all you need to say to any fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (or film in general) to get them excited is to tell them that Christian Bale plays an alien who made it his life’s work to murder as many deities as possible.
That’s a hell of a pitch, and while the actor’s concerns that he’d be forced to run around in a G-string were quickly alleviated, we can guarantee that Gorr is going to live long in the memory for a variety of other reasons. Sure, Taika Waititi is bringing his signature style of offbeat irreverence to the table, but Bale looks to be taking things deadly serious.
One person to have encountered the majority of the MCU’s gravest threats so far is the Odinson himself, Chris Hemsworth, who knows a thing or two about big bads. Speaking to IGN, the franchise stalwart could barely contain his excitement at seeing one of the industry’s top talents sink their teeth into a rare blockbuster outing.
“Everything you’d imagine [Christian Bale] would bring to it. Nuance and complexity and truth, levity. He’s one of my favorite actors working, and I was so excited he agreed to jump on board here. What’s he’s done is that he’s definitely one of my favorite villains in the Marvel universe.”
Hemsworth may be excited that Bale has joined the MCU, but lest we forget, the man himself made it pretty clear he “hadn’t entered sh*t”. Either way, we can’t wait for Thor: Love and Thunder to arrive on July 8.