Thor: Love and Thunder Director Taika Waititi Describes Christian Bale’s Gorr as “Layred,” “Very Formidable.”

Director Taika Waititi believes Thor: Love and Thunder has a top-tier Marvel villain in Christian Bale’s Gorr the God-Butcher. Marvel still hasn’t released an official first look at Bale’s deicidal villain, but toys and merchandise provided eager Marvel fans with a sense of what he’ll look like. Meanwhile, speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Waititi calls Gorr “very formidable.” He adds, “I think personally, he’s probably one of the best villains that’s Marvel’s had in their films. He’s very layered.”

Waititi made similar comments while describing Thor: Love and Thunder to the Associated Press. “It’s a great, really fun, weird little group of heroes, a new team for Thor with Korg, Valkyrie and The Mighty Thor,” Waititi said. “And, in my humble opinion, we have probably the best villain that Marvel’s ever had in Christian Bale.”

Jason Aaron and Esad Ribic created Gorr the God-Butcher in the opening arc of their Thor: God of Thunder series for Marvel Comics in 2012. That series kicked off Aaron’s years-long run writing Thor comics. His story serves as the basis of Thor: Love and Thunder‘s plot (and at least one of Ribic’s panels is painstakingly recreated in the film’s trailer).

Following concerns from fans about Gorr’s look in the film, Aaron commented in his substack newsletter, “We haven’t even gotten the first official look at the movie version of Gorr the God Butcher yet. I’ve seen some concerns online about Gorr’s design, based off glimpses of the character’s action figure. As the guy who co-created him, along with Esad, I’ll just say that it wasn’t Gorr’s nose (or lack thereof) that made him the tragic and deeply disturbed God Butcher that he was. Trust in the face of Christian Bale. Need I remind you, it’s a pretty goddamn talented face.”

Gorr’s origin in the comics is a tragic one. As his barren homeworld seem to fall apart around him, he and his family prayed to their gods for aid. Instead, one misfortune after another befell him them. Gorr’s family died and he became distraught. Then he discovered two gods who had fallen in battle with each other (one of whom would later turn out to be Knull, god of the symbiotes). Gorr took one of their weapons, All-Black the Necrosword, and used its formidable power to embark on a cosmic, revenge-fueled quest to rid the universe of gods. Ultimately, it took the combined might of Thors — young Thor, Thor the Avenger, and King Thor from the future — to foil Gorr’s attempt to set off a “god bomb.”

Waititi directs Thor: Love and Thunder from a screenplay he co-wrote with Jennifer Kaytin Robinson. The film and stars Chris Hemsworth, Tessa Thompson, Natalie Portman, Christian Bale, Chris Pratt, Jaimie Alexander, Pom Klementieff, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Sean Gunn, Jeff Goldblum, and Vin Diesel. Thor: Love and Thunder opens in theaters on July 8th.