The first trailer for Thor: Love and Thunder debuted Monday, and while it offered us first looks at Jane Foster wielding Mjolnir as the new Mighty Thor and Russell Crowe as Zeus there was one major character noticeably absent from the trailer: the film's villain, Gorr the God Butcher (played by Christian Bale).
Gorr's god-slaying handiwork was on display in the trailer, though, with Thor and Korg beholding the remains of Falligar the Behemoth in a spot-on recreation from the Marvel Comics. (See below.)
The official plot synopsis for Thor: Love and Thunder reveals the film "finds Thor (Chris Hemsworth) on a journey unlike anything he’s ever faced – a quest for inner peace. But his retirement is interrupted by a galactic killer known as Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale), who seeks the extinction of the gods. To combat the threat, Thor enlists the help of King Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson), Korg (Taika Waititi) and ex-girlfriend Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), who – to Thor’s surprise – inexplicably wields his magical hammer, Mjolnir, as the Mighty Thor. Together, they embark upon a harrowing cosmic adventure to uncover the mystery of the God Butcher’s vengeance and stop him before it’s too late."
But we don't need an epic quest "to uncover the mystery of the God Butcher’s vengeance" because we've read the Marvel Comics that Thor: Love and Thunder drew its inspiration from!
Read on for a full breakdown of Gorr's background and role in the Thor franchise, as well as a few other villains who could appear in Thor: Love and Thunder.
Gorr Explained: The Basics
There's a reason Gorr is called "The God Butcher." This vindictive alien is basically a serial killer who only targets gods. Once a happy, humble family man, Gorr was forced to watch his family taken from him. Because his prayers for salvation went unanswered, Gorr decided that all gods are unworthy of the love and devotion they receive from their worshipers. To prove it, he's devoted his long life to systematically ridding the universe of all gods. That includes Thor, the one god who once tussled with the God Butcher and lived to tell the tale.
Gorr's Powers and Abilities
On his own, Gorr is an alien with no remarkable abilities to speak of, aside from a well-honed talent for torture and interrogation. But after coming into possession of an ancient weapon called All-Black the Necrosword, Gorr gained immortality and a host of other powers like enhanced strength, speed, durability, regeneration and flight. Gorr can even use the sword to create razor-sharp constructs or living minions he calls Black Berserkers.
Gorr's main weakness is that he's dependent on his sword for his power. That, along with his deeply buried self-loathing streak, proved to be his undoing.
Gorr: Origin and Background
Gorr is a relatively recent addition to Thor's rogues gallery, first appearing in 2012's Thor: God of Thunder #1. That series marks the start of writer Jason Aaron's long and highly influential Thor saga (a saga which also deals with Jane Foster inheriting the mantle of Thor).
Gorr served as the main villain for the first 11 issues of Thor: God of Thunder. The series establishes Gorr as a once ordinary alien driven to madness by the deaths of his wife and children. He's then exiled by his fanatically religious tribe after denying the existence of gods. But after wandering the wastelands and witnessing a battle between two powerful gods, Gorr comes to an epiphany. He decides that if gods do exist but fail to respond to the prayers of their worshipers, then they don't deserve to live.
After claiming All-Black the Necrosword from the body of the loser, Gorr gains incredible powers and begins a long crusade to murder every god in the universe. That quest eventually brings him to Earth during the Middle Ages, where he captures a young Thor and tortures him for information about the gods of Asgard. Thor escapes and wounds Gorr, believing himself to have ended the threat permanently.
Instead, Gorr resurfaces in the present, forcing Thor to unite with his young, Viking Age self and an older Thor from the far future to battle an existential threat to all gods. Gorr enslaves numerous gods and forces them to build a doomsday weapon called the God-Bomb, one which would detonate across time and eliminate every god in one stroke. However, Gorr proves to be his own worst enemy. He creates a construct of his dead son Agar, who denounces his father's cruelty and labels him "the god of hypocrisy." Agar gives Thor the power to withstand the God-Bomb blast, and Thor uses the power of two Mjolnirs to end the threat of Gorr once and for all.
While Gorr has remained dead ever since, his influence continues to be felt in the Marvel Universe. Gorr planted seeds of doubt in Thor's mind, forcing him to question whether gods truly are as noble and benevolent as they seem. Nick Fury seizes on that doubt in 2014's Original Sin, telling Thor "Gorr was right" and rendering the god of thunder so disillusioned that he's no longer able to lift Mjolnir. That act paved the way for Jane Foster to inherit Mjolnir and become the new Thor. Only very recently has Thor regained his hammer and his confidence.
And while Gorr is gone, his sword remains. Recent stories have revealed the true nature of All-Black the Necrosword, showing it to be a creation of Knull, the god of symbiotes like Venom and Carnage. Knull has been waging war against the Celestials and other powerful cosmic beings since the Big Bang, seeking a return to a time when existence was nothing but an endless, black void. In his own way, Gorr was helping to further Knull's agenda.
A version of the Necrosword was also used by Hela in Thor: Ragnarok.
Other Possible Thor 4 Villains
While Gorr is confirmed to appear in Thor: Love and Thunder, past Thor movies give us reason to expect he may be one of several villains appearing in the sequel. With that in mind, here are some other Marvel villains who could appear.
Enchantress - Enchantress is probably the most significant Thor villain yet to appear in the MCU, and her debut is probably only a matter of time. Plus, with Jane Foster transforming into Thor and Valkyrie returning, Marvel may wish to focus on a female-driven cast this time. Enchantress is a powerful Asgardian sorceress with a serious case of unrequited love for Thor. In fact, her jealousy of Jane's romance with Thor has led to her trying to kill Jane on more than one occasion.
Dario Agger - Dario Agger is the current CEO of Roxxon Energy Corp, basically the most evil corporation in the Marvel Universe (and one that's appeared in numerous MCU projects). He also happens to be the Minotaur of Greek legend. We don't necessarily see Dario serving as the main villain of Love and Thunder, but he could easily be introduced as a secondary antagonist working alongside a character like Gorr or Enchantress.
Mangog - The Mangog is a villain after Gorr's own heart. Created from the combined hatred of billions of beings killed during a failed invasion of Asgard, the Mangog is a monster of pure rage utterly committed to Odin's destruction. It also happens to be the final villain Jane Foster fought during her tenure as Thor. The Mangog could be a way of including elements of the God Butcher storyline in the movie without the need for a character with as much back story as Gorr.
Surtur - The ruler of Muspelheim played a small but pivotal role in Thor: Ragnarok, ultimately destroying Asgard and killing himself and Hela along with it. But is Surtur truly gone? We'd like to think this villain has a bigger part to play in the Thor franchise, given how integral he's been to so many major Thor storylines.
Jesse is a mild-mannered writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.
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