Christian Bale proved himself an amazing Batman in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Trilogy, and the news that he was set to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe was welcomed by comic book fans. Cast as Gorr the God Butcher in Thor: Love and Thunder, we expected big things and...he mostly delivered.
Unfortunately, the actor didn't have the greatest material to work with, and many of Gorr's scenes seemingly ended up on the cutting room floor. Bale has already shared his regrets that his interactions with Peter Dinklage and Jeff Goldblum were scrapped, and many have wondered if he might have walked away from the latest Thor movie unhappy.
Bale has since expressed an interest in returning to the MCU as another character, of course, suggesting he'd like another shot at the franchise.
We know he pushed for Gorr to look a little more human than his comic book counterpart, resulting in a design change which largely underwhelmed fans of Jason Aaron and Esad Ribic's Thor run. Now, another alternate design has found its way online courtesy of artist Aleksi Briclot.
"On this one I kept the [actor's] face while keeping most features from the comic book," he explains. "The two tentacles and the overall white look. Instead of having the character half naked exposing his musculature I used a torso armor mimicking it. I was also thinking about how could we deal with the shadow effect surrounding him. Having a practical black outfit with a hoodie and then some surreal extension [with CGI]."
Gorr looking like this wouldn't have been enough to improve Taika Waititi's manic screenplay, but it might have gone some way in increasing goodwill towards a movie which ranks alongside Thor: The Dark World as one of the God of Thunder's most disappointing adventures.
Take a closer look at this alternate Gorr design in the Instagram post below.
The movie 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.
Directed by Taika Waititi, the movie stars Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Christian Bale, Tessa Thompson, Russell Crowe, Jaimie Alexander, Chris Pratt, Karen Gillan, and Sean Gunn among others.
Thor: Love and Thunder is now streaming on Disney+.