If comic fans aren't happy with the redesign of Christian Bale's Gorr the God Butcher in the upcoming Thor: Love and Thunder, director Taika Waititi has an explanation.
"His face in the comics unfortunately does kind of resemble Voldemort," Waititi told IGN, in reference to the primary villain of the Harry Potter franchise. "So I was like, people are just automatically gonna make that connection."
"So we decided to depart from that design a bit more and sorta keep elements of the tone, and the fact that he had the sword," Waititi said, "But really it was about his story. That was the most important thing for us."
There is indeed a resemblance between Gorr's appearance in various comic stories and that of the Dark Lord from the Harry Potter series, largely by way of the characters' pale skin, pointed teeth, and trademark nose-less visages. Unlike Ralph Fiennes' portrayal of Voldemort, though, Bale's own – albeit make-up enhanced – likeness is readily apparent portraying his villainous character in Love and Thunder.
Gorr the God Butcher was introduced in 2012's Thor: God of Thunder #2 by Jason Aaron and Esad Ribić. The character was later revealed have been raised in a poor, harsh environment as a child where gods were worshipped, but never seemed to answer the prayers of their starving worshippers. Growing disdainful of gods as his troubled life took him into adulthood, Gorr later seized the power of one particular god and used his own sword to in turn kill him, going on to slay countless other gods over the course of millennia – gods he felt had forsaken their worshippers.
With some help, Thor was eventually able to kill Gorr, but the legacy of the God Butcher later resulted in the God of Thunder no longer being considered worthy enough to wield his once-faithful weapon, Mjolnir. In the distant future, Gorr is resurrected, later bonds with the All-Black symbiote and even transcends godhood, but is ultimately again defeated by Thor, when he’s driven insane and reverts to his mortal form.
In Harry Potter, Voldemort was no less evil – the genocidal, hate-filled wizard instilled fear in the realm of wizards and witches, to the point where his name was forbidden to be mentioned. Leader of a dark enclave known as the Death Eaters, Lord Voldemort sought to instill his own corrupt version of purity, ridding the world of all who have origins not rooted in magic.
Thor: Love and Thunder arrives in theaters July 8.
Source: Twitter