Gorr the God Butcher: Who is Gorr the God Butcher, and what role will he play in Thor: Love and Thunder?

Christian Bale is confirmed to play the comicbook villain in the upcoming Thor film.

Christian Bale has been cast as Gorr the God Butcher in Thor: Love and Thunder. Photo: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images & Marvel Comics.

Although he wasn’t shown in the first trailer for Thor: Love and Thunder, we now have our first look at the villain for the upcoming Thor film, the fourth in his title series. The second trailer, released on May 24th, 2022 shows Gorr the God Butcher in all his glory, played by Christian Bale, as he enters the MCU.

Gorr is a Marvel villain with a tragic backstory that feeds into everything he does from then on. For a Norse god, an enemy with a title like Gorr’s is certainly something to be concerned about.

Here's what we know about Gorr from the comics - and what role he might play in Thor: Love and Thunder.

Who is Gorr the God Butcher?

Gorr was born on a nameless planet, where he, his family, and everyone he knew were taught to trust the gods. The planet had an incredibly harsh environment that killed off his mother and father while he was still young, leaving him alone.

When he grew up, he married and had several children. His wife, Arra, was killed by an earthquake while pregnant. Left as a single father, his children died, one by one, until his last son, Agar, died of starvation.

The movie version of Gorr the God Butcher seems fairly comicbook-accurate from our first look in the trailer. Photo: Disney / Marvel Studios.

Gorr had always prayed to the gods he had grown up with, begging them for help and salvation. After his last child died, Gorr began to stray from the path he had been taught, questioning whether the gods even existed.

One day, he witnessed a pair of gods fighting: a dark god called Knull and a purple-skinned god with golden armour. The purple god begged Gorr for help, which enraged him.

He was shocked to see that, while the gods did exist, they not only had not answered his people’s calls for help, but then dared to ask for help themselves.

In his rage, Knull’s own sword transformed into All-Black the Necrosword, and bonded to Gorr. He used it to kill the purple god and then swore to exact revenge for his family and his people by hunting down all gods.

Gorr the God Butcher in Thor: Love and Thunder

In the comics, Gorr battles Thor on several occasions, and even in multiple timelines. Although he was always defeated by the God of Thunder, Gorr certainly leaves a mark on him.

Gorr’s own philosophy sparked Thor becoming unworthy and being unable to lift Mjolnir, as we already saw Thor struggle with in his first film.

Gorr the God Butcher’s powers

Although he doesn’t have any superhuman abilities of his own, Gorr has spectacular strength when he wields the Necrosword. He can lift more than 100 tons and his strength is said to rival that of Thor’s

Gorr is also particularly hard to kill, bonded to the Necrosword as he is. His essence is captured by the sword and can be used to resurrect him, as Loki did in one comicbook series.

He also has around 3,000 years of combat experience and has killed hundreds, if not thousands, of gods, meaning he must have some special skill with weapons.