Of all the Marvel Cinematic Universe franchises, none have had deadlier villains than Thor. From Loki to Hela, the God of Thunder has faced literal world-ending enemies without the aid of the Avengers. Although it seemed like Hela may have been his greatest challenge yet, the reveal of Gorr the God-Butcher in Thor: Love and Thunder has proven that her place as the deadliest Thor villain may be in jeopardy. But for longtime fans of Marvel films, it's clear to see why, as Gorr is eerily reminiscent of another Marvel movie bad guy -- Jared Nomak from Guillermo Del Toro's Blade II.
Not much is known about Gorr in Love and Thunder. However, if he followed his comic book origin, he would be from a race that had suffered on a planet that offered little to no food and water. There, Gorr watched as his people worshipped gods that never came to help them. Instead, he was forced to watch his people die, and after seeing gods battle one another, he took the blade, All-Black, and vowed that all gods would die as revenge for what he lost. Much like Nomak, Gorr suffered an immeasurable loss that wasn't of his own volition.
In Blade II, Nomak was created by his father, Eli Damaskinos, an ancient vampire from an even older bloodline. Rather than live the life of a prince, Nomak was experimented on and turned into a super-breed of vampire known as a Reaper. Abandoned by his family and left for dead, he, like Gorr, vowed to destroy all that had forsaken him and remake the world as one filled with Reapers. Aesthetically, the two villains are also eerily similar with their pale visages and laser focus that can be felt through their eyes.
The corruption within Blade II's Nomak and Love and Thunder's Gorr is also uncanny as Nomak's curse created a man struggling to be logical but nearly unable to cope with the primal rage buried within him. As a result, he could listen to reason but could never truly adhere to it because he always fell back on the desire to feed and destroy. When compared to Gorr, there's an air of mystery as to the source of his power. Nevertheless, the blackness he inhabits has appeared to slowly take him over and turn him into something nearly vampiric and utterly terrifying. With his motivations, he's also become a monster focused on his mission.
Interestingly, both Gorr and Nomak share a sense of abandonment. For Nomak, that came from his family, who turned him into something more inhuman than a vampire and then left him to die. In contrast, Gorr's motivations came from the abandonment of faith as he saw the power of gods and their failure to help him, his family or his people. So while his feelings stem from a more existential and external source, the result was the same. Because of this, their power levels could only go as high as their wills, which have seemingly been unmatched since Blade only defeated Nomak because he outsmarted him.
Love and Thunder's Gorr the God-Butcher has the potential to be one of the scariest and deadliest enemies in the MCU since Thanos. Of course, with the ability to destroy whole planets, he's in good company in terms of his past competition. But it's hard to ignore how his scariest aspects, both visually and morally, uniquely parallel that of Nomak's and his relentless mission to eliminate anyone tied to his creation. If anything, the similarities will only aid in the realization that Thor and his allies may face defeat a lot sooner than they may anticipate.
To get to know the MCU's Gorr the God-Butcher, Thor: Love and Thunder arrives in theaters on July 8.