‘He’s on a Scorched Earth Policy’: Taika Waititi Reveals Christian Bale’s Gorr is Much More Terrifying Than Hela

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Christian Bale ebbs into the Marvel Cinematic Universe when the reality is in chaos and people are either grief-stricken or working too hard in this new world to bother about anything else. New players are in town. The multiverse has been falling in on itself. And what we knew of the Avengers is no more.

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With so much change happening in Earth-616, who would have the strength and foreknowledge to ward themselves against new and unknown threats like Gorr? The God Butcher is not new, so to speak, although comparatively young with respect to his comic advent. It seems that Thanos’ chaos-ridden wake has left elements like Gorr to take up the mantle and lay destruction to what remains.

Christian Bale as Gorr
Gorr the God Butcher, Thor 4’s main antagonist
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Related article: Christian Bale’s Gorr is the Best Marvel Villain Ever — Will Taika Waititi’s Prediction Come True?

What Does Gorr the God Butcher Want?

The villain originating from an unnamed planet and left to starvation at an early age knew nothing of the beauties of the world that Thanos worked so hard to bring to the universe. The irony of the matter stems from this very fact. Gorr was taught to trust and believe in the gods because they would come and save him and his people from starving and inching toward death in the cruel climes of his world.

Also read: Gorr the God Butcher’s Origin Explained

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The gods never came and slowly he lost his parents, fought for self-preservation, and finally lost his family as well. All dead of either sun fevers (his father and children) or earthquake (Gorr’s pregnant mate, Arra), or while saving him from the clutches of some wild beast (his mother), Gorr leaves his wasteland home to look for a better place to settle in with his one surviving child, Agar. When he too perishes during the trek, Gorr’s belief in the gods finally loses its last tether, and his journey toward butchering them begins.

Christian Bale
Christian Bale as Gorr the God Butcher

Also read: Thor 4: Why Gorr Can’t Kill Jane Foster aka Lady Thor

Brad Winderbaum, the Marvel Studios’ head of streaming, television, and animation, explained:

“Gorr played by the rules, and so when he realizes he’s been betrayed by the gods, he’s overtaken by a rage that hits such a fever pitch that he gains an evil, ancient power and sets out to rid the universe of these gods, who don’t take care of their humans.

Gorr is on a scorched-earth policy, and so what we have in Thor: Love and Thunder’are our heroes trying to stop a killer before he strikes again, traveling the cosmos, deducing where he’s going to strike next and racing to protect his next victim.”

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Also read: “This is Really Scary”: Chris Hemsworth Reveals Christian Bale’s Gorr Performance Terrified Him

Christian Bale’s Gorr is Worse Than Hela

Gaining his powers from an ancient being known as All-Black, a symbiote without a shape, he becomes the host for this amorphous weapon that originated from the evil Knull. He uses All-Black’s powers to make or shape weapons and armor at will with one of the most famous of his weapons being All-Black the Necrosword. With it, he avenges his promise to kill all the gods — a crusade that spans millennia.

The Necrosword
Gorr’s All-Black the Necrosword

Also read: Gorr the God Butcher’s Secret Weapon Explained

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In an interview with Disney, director Taika Waititi [Thor: Ragnarok and Thor: Love and Thunder] speaks of the formidability of the film’s main antagonist by comparing him to Hela, Odin’s eldest daughter, and Thor and Loki’s sister. Hela had destroyed Asgard out of spite but Gorr, according to Waititi, is further up the villainous scale than even the Goddess of Death herself.

“We needed to step up from Hela and find a villain who was somehow even more formidable, and we found that in Gorr, who is played by the remarkable Christian Bale.”

thor
Chris Hemsworth returns as the God of Thunder in Thor 4

Also read: Thor: Love and Thunder Theory: Gorr Unleashes Knull on MCU

Actor Chris Hemsworth, too, had something to say about Gorr and Bale’s performance as the MCU supervillain:

“There’s so much drama and insanity around Gorr, but Christian Bale managed to pull the focus right into each moment.You can’t take your eyes off him. The character is fascinating, because like all good villains, Gorr has a point. He may not be going about it the right way, but there’s empathy in the script and Christian brought so many more layers and so much more depth to Gorr.”

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Thor: Love and Thunder streams worldwide in theaters on July 8, 2022.

Source: Disney

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Written by Diya

Articles Published: 1460

With a degree in Literature from Miranda House, Diya Majumdar now has nearly 1500 published articles on FandomWire. Her passion and profession both include dissecting the world of cinema while being a liberally opinionated person with an overbearing love for Monet, Edvard Munch, and Van Gogh. Other skills include being the proud owner of an obsessive collection of Spotify playlists.