Thor: Love and Thunder will introduce Christian Bale as Gorr the God Butcher. While most Marvel Cinematic Universe villains have been motivated by greed (Obadiah Stane, Vulture and Yellowjacket), a thirst for power (Hela, Ronan the Accuser and Red Skull) or some misguided ideology (Thanos, Zemo and Ultron), Gorr's motivation is rooted in wanting to torment and kill those who've caused him pain. He may not be the most sadistic comic book villain, but Gorr could be the most sadistic villain in the MCU, unless his character is fundamentally altered.

Gorr the God Butcher Is a Pure Sadist

If Gorr the God Butcher is half as sadistic as his comic book equivalent, he could easily be the MCU's most sadistic villain. Gorr doesn't just fight people in honorable combat. He slaughters them, savoring their pain as part of his vindictive grudge against the Gods for his tragic lot in life.

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In the comics, Thor first encountered Gorr back in the 9th Century, after discovering the washed-up bodies of several Slavic Gods on the shores of Iceland, gored open and drained of blood. Centuries later, Gorr laid siege on Chronux, which was run by  the Time Gods. He butchered these gods, using their blood to travel throughout time and going back to rip the heart out of the earliest Elder Gods. He would then keep the ripped-out heart as a savage trophy, establishing his dominion over the Gods.

While these gory antics are grotesque, Gorr goes even further. His ultimate plan was to create the Godbomb, which would obliterate all Gods from reality. To construct this, Gorr traveled to Earth-14412, where he created an army from his symbiotic suit, the All-Black. He crucified countless Gods to satisfy his wrath, including Volstagg. Even multiple Thors could not defeat him for some time. While Gorr ultimately is beaten, his pure hatred made him a terrifying entity of cosmic wrath and sadism, one that left even the Gods terrified.

What Can Gorr Be Like in Thor: Love and Thunder?

It is highly unlikely that Gorr will be as violent and bloody as his comic counterpart in Love and Thunder, given the MCU's aim for a general audience. However, his sheer sadism and desire to inflict pain on the Gods could make Gorr stand apart from the rest of the MCU. Plus, it wouldn't be the first time Bale played a serial killer, as he did so iconically in American Psycho.

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On top of that, Taika Waititi has produced several characters over the course of his career that are prone to violence, as seen in Thor: Ragnarok. Hela is a pure sadist, and the Grandmaster, despite his goofy facade, takes great pleasure in watching his gladiators kill each other. Plus, he has no qualms killing anyone himself, especially if they cross him. All of this offers a potential preview of how sadistic Gorr might be in the MCU.

While Gorr is scary contextually, it is likely that Waititi and Bale will be able to bring Gorr's sadism from the comics to life without tonally clashing with the rest of Love and Thunder. Furthermore, Gorr's arc might serve as an ideal foil. While Thor has fallen to tragic depths multiple times and reinvented himself afterwards, Gorr fell just as hard as Thor, only to turn that pain into wrath.

Directed by Taika Waititi, Thor: Love and Thunder stars Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie, Natalie Portman as Jane Foster and Christian Bale as Gorr the God Butcher. The film arrives in theaters Feb. 11, 2022.

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