Christian Bale Reveals Villain Inspirations for Gorr in Thor: Love and Thunder

Thor: Love and Thunder brings Christian Bale to the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Gorr the God Butcher, a villain known well from the Thor: God of Thunder comic book series. Gorr, much like his comic book counterpart, is out for revenge against the gods when he feels as though they have forsaken him and not answered his prayers. As loss has consumed his life, Gorr wants all of those gods to be exterminated. In an exclusive interview with ComicBook.com, Bale revealed that he did have some inspirations for Gorr from other iconic villain roles. 

While Bale is flattered that some critics likened his Gorr performance to Heath Ledger’s performance as the Joker in The Dark Knight, he does not say he took inspiration from the iconic villain and his Batman movie co-star. “There’s inspiration in so many places that you might not even realize you’re getting inspiration from, but very directly, you know, I looked at Nosferatu and I looked at Aphex Twin, ‘Come to Daddy,’ music video which is a favorite of mine and of Taika’s.” The music video in reference, available for watching on YouTube, features a pale-skinned being with bodily proportions that are not traditional haunting a woman as pointed, unnatural teeth often consume the frame. Gorr the God Butcher features a design closer to the music video’s villain than the average human.

Understanding the villain will be key for audiences seeing Thor: Love and Thunder, something it seems Bale and Waititi seem to really have wanted to deliver. Much like the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Thor, Gorr has lost a lot of important things from his life and Bale sees the parallels between the two characters. “Yes, absolutely,” he said of seeing the similarities, “and they’re very different approaches to dealing with that pain of course, with a great deal of humor as is Taika’s brilliance,” the actor said. “Then, also touching on a great sincerity of how do you deal with pain and love and loss, et cetera. And I do think people will find that this is not only a hell of a roller coaster and just a great time and funny as hell, but also very moving.”

It seems much of what Bale and Waititi set out to accomplish was done so successfully. The first reactions to Thor: Love and Thunder call it “emotional,” among other complimentary words. 

Are you excited to see Gorr in Thor: Love and Thunder? Share your thoughts in the comment section or send them my way on Twitter. Watch ComicBook.com’s full interview with Bale in the video above or on the Phase Zero YouTube channel. Thor: Love and Thunder hits theaters on July 8.