He may be a little biased, but Thor: Love and Thunder director Taika Waititi is teasing big things from Gorr the God Butcher!
Gorr didn't actually appear in the recent trailer, so aside from some blurry set photos and a Marvel Legends action figure, we haven't had a proper look at Christian Bale as the powerful baddie. Fans seemed to be a little disappointed with his rather bland character design, though, especially as he looks so much cooler in the comics.
While he may not look particularly formidable or intimidating, Waititi believes he might just turn out to be the Marvel Cinematic Universe's best villain.
“It’s a great, really fun, weird little group of heroes, a new team for Thor with Korg, Valkyrie and The Mighty Thor," the filmmaker said during an interview with AP News. "And, in my humble opinion, we have probably the best villain that Marvel’s ever had in Christian Bale.”
Again, Waititi is hardly going to be objective here, but it's nice to know that the filmmaker has full confidence in Love and Thunder's antagonist all the same. The Jojo Rabbit director also revealed that the God of Thunder (Chris Hemsworth) will experience a midlife crisis of sorts in the movie.
"Thor is just trying to figure out his purpose, trying to figure out exactly who he is and why he’s a hero or whether he should be a hero. I guess you could call it a midlife crisis.”
Thor: Love and Thunder 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 Waititi (Thor: Ragnarok, Jojo Rabbit) and produced by Kevin Feige and Brad Winderbaum, Thor: Love and Thunder opens in theaters July 8, 2022.