THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER Concept Art Reveals Comic-Accurate Version Of Christian Bale's Gorr The God Butcher

When the news broke that Christian Bale would play Gorr in Thor: Love and Thunder, fans were overjoyed. Unfortunately, the villain's final design was a disappointment and this take is so much better...

By JoshWilding - Jan 03, 2024 09:01 AM EST

Filed Under: Thor: Love and Thunder

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.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Aleksi Briclot (@aleksibriclot)

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+.

THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER Concept Art Reveals Awesome AVENGERS: ENDGAME-Inspired Take On Thor's Armor

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75 Comments

1 2

harryba11zack - 1/3/2024, 9:56 AM

tentacles could have saved that sh1t stain of a film

marvel72 - 1/3/2024, 10:09 AM

@harryba11zack - Nope, it would of help slightly like I liked how Eternity and Hercules looked,Hercules needs to get bigger though.

mountainman - 1/3/2024, 10:14 AM

@marvel72 - Imagine getting far out Marvel stuff like an accurate Eternity on film, but it’s in the worst MCU film.

Slotherin - 1/3/2024, 11:08 AM

@mountainman -

mountainman - 1/3/2024, 11:10 AM

@Slotherin - When Bale was announced as Gorr, I got so excited. Stupid me.

Slotherin - 1/3/2024, 11:20 AM

@mountainman - dude, I feel you.
This design was good too. The right balance of comic accuracy, complimenting the actor's features to capture his performance, slight updates to the attire and swerving from Voldemort comparisons.

mountainman - 1/3/2024, 11:22 AM

@Slotherin - His performance wasn’t the problem. He was the only serious part of that movie. They even made jokes about Jane’s cancer.

Slotherin - 1/3/2024, 11:23 AM

@mountainman - his performance was still the best part of the film. It's a shame they didn't go with this design, highlight his killing spree more and give it more of a sense of gravity.

Kneeonbrown - 1/3/2024, 11:43 AM

@mountainman - Taika took two great stories with authentic emotional resonance that could have spanned multiple films and turned them into disposable obligatory easter eggs for fans so he could tell fart jokes. Creatively contemptuousto the source material in such an almost cruel way that I want to respect the balls necessary to twist the screws on the fandom but in this instance the material was so therapeutic to me personally that I felt offended.Dealing with loss of faith and the isolation of Thor and the grief and perseverance of Jane would have made a great film or films but Taika disrespected the medium and the fans. He could have achieved a full embrace of his humor with the very serious subject matters the way he did in JoJo Rabbit but he just couldn't stick the landing.

mountainman - 1/3/2024, 11:51 AM

@Kneeonbrown - Yes. There was two movies worth of content in it. One could make the same argument about Ragnarok, but most people would claim that one turned out better. They should have only had L&T be about Gorr and save Jane. Funnily enough, it could have tied the overall saga together better. They could have tied it into Eternals, Black Panther, GOTG, The Marvels. Having all these gods getting murdered would have some huge ramifications across the MCU.

dragon316 - 1/3/2024, 2:08 PM

@mountainman - they did had not noticed there was allot of stuff I forgot after watching first time I be upset after that typical marvel move make joke on deadly virus kill people

Slotherin - 1/3/2024, 8:23 PM

@mountainman - the lack of nods in things dealing with gods was odd.
Moon Knight would have been a good place to make a mention with the gathering of gods.

I'll give a pass to Black Panther 2 because for the majority of the film the connection to Bast is severed anyway.
Guardians dealing with multiple planets and following after seems like one potential place though it also apparently takes place considerably later given Groot's appearance.

Not helping is the implication that only a few gods actively do any good and many are arrogant bullies.

While Eternals is affected by Avengers events, I get they were also trying to do their own thing and not stuff too much in there.
Also I don't think celestials care about much happening outside their own area

Slotherin - 1/3/2024, 8:27 PM

@mountainman - the Marvels was also balancing so much that while it had planet-hopping, there was nowhere that his killing spree would feel relevant to the things already going on in it.

Slotherin - 1/3/2024, 8:28 PM

@dragon316 - what was the joke?

mountainman - 1/3/2024, 8:59 PM

@Slotherin - Totally forgot about Moon Knight. That would have been a great tie too!

Slotherin - 1/4/2024, 8:07 AM

@mountainman - that had the most natural tie in potential for it.
Like I'm glad Moon Knight was doing his own thing, but that was the perfect place to make an allusion, especially when the show wasn't tied to any other stories

mountainman - 1/4/2024, 11:11 AM

@Slotherin - All the Egyptian gods had to do was mention something they heard about a God Butcherer and that they were fearful and hiding from him.

Slotherin - 1/4/2024, 1:27 PM

@mountainman - exactly. And since they had plenty of screentime to do it in that's where it does feel like a robbery.

mountainman - 1/4/2024, 1:41 PM

@Slotherin - As someone who loves ancient mythologies, I was very disappointed with how that show handled the Egyptian gods.

Watching Percy Jackson at the behest of my wife. It’s a bit too childish for me, but I love the Greek mythology in it.

HashTagSwagg - 1/3/2024, 9:59 AM

Thor got his best villain right out the gate, everyone afterwards has been absolute toilet bowl water.

Slotherin - 1/3/2024, 11:11 AM

@HashTagSwagg - that's the unfortunate thing about starting with the nemesis. It can work for the ensuing conflict well, but sometimes everything after just feels lesser in some way.
I think that was one thing that worked well in the Dark Knight.
I miss the marketing campaigns they did with those films now.

Origame - 1/3/2024, 11:44 AM

@HashTagSwagg - in fairness, gorr was a great villain. They simply placed him in toilet water 🤣

MarvelousMarty - 1/3/2024, 9:59 AM

Looks sh*t so it would have suited the movie.

lazlodaytona - 1/3/2024, 10:02 AM

Bale just seems to be a d1ck. that's all

Slotherin - 1/3/2024, 11:23 AM

@lazlodaytona - tentadicks

MotherGooseUPus - 1/3/2024, 10:05 AM

Sooooooo Bale with some tentacles and a hood, got it

slickrickdesigns - 1/3/2024, 10:06 AM

Could’ve made a more accurate look for him and I’m sure Bale would’ve done it with the same conviction but the only thing that could’ve helped this film with Gorr was to show him butchering gods. But here at Marvel Studios we would rather focus on the rock jokes more than show casing a bad mofo villain.

Slotherin - 1/3/2024, 11:25 AM

@slickrickdesigns - I think both of these things would have helped.
We definitely needed to see more of his impact. This was something that could have had wide ranging consequences across the universe or came into the action a bit more.

marvel72 - 1/3/2024, 10:09 AM

Comic book accurate design, Marvel scrap it straight away.

FinnishDude - 1/3/2024, 10:10 AM

Putting aside that I inherently don't agree with their reasoning of "a comic-accurate Gorn would have looked too much like Voldemort", I would have been perfectly happy, if there have been even something small that made him look more alien and less "bald Christian Bale painted white".

Slotherin - 1/3/2024, 11:18 AM

@FinnishDude - the worst part is this did a good job of balancing comic accuracy, NOT looking like Voldemort, preserving Bale's features for his performance and providing some upgrades on his attire for the big screen.

WEAPONXOXOXO - 1/3/2024, 10:12 AM

That would have helped. Different script and director would have been better. It would have been an amazing movie if they just made it more like the comic book story.

instead we got

TheloniousJay - 1/3/2024, 10:14 AM

It wouldn't have mattered. The theatrical cut would've been crap, still. The Gorr we did get from Bale was pretty good, as far as the acting went. As usual, another great star who plays a Marvel villain, and underutilized. If I remember correctly, there's a total of 5-6 hours of footage. The final cut could've been so much better.

TheFinestSmack - 1/3/2024, 10:24 AM

More REVEALS from Josh!!!

WhatIfRickJames - 1/3/2024, 10:38 AM

Don't like the design but I get where they were going.

WelcomeBackFrank - 1/3/2024, 10:39 AM

Always hate this: When the concept art is cooler than the actual product.

Same thing happened with Malekith. Same thing happened with countless other characters.

Just don't overthink it. It's a comic book movie. Embrace the fantastical, mythical and absurd and make it comic booky.

Get real tired of studios who opt out for a more simpler or half-assed version because they think a design looks 'too cheesy'; 'corny.'

Slotherin - 1/3/2024, 11:16 AM

@WelcomeBackFrank - especially when Thor has already embraced the cheese and fantastical in so many ways.

I get what they went with and it wasn't the worst thing but this feels like a robbery.

It perfectly swerved from the Voldemort comparison while preserving Bale's features.

I'm also a fan of bringing in nonhuman threats with a sense of humanity in sci-fi and fantasy who are treated with the same gravity.

URCOMMENTSUCKS - 1/3/2024, 12:22 PM

@Slotherin - >especially when Thor has already embraced the cheese and fantastical in so many ways.

You think being self-aware and verging on self-parody is embracing the cheese and fantastical? A Thor movie that would embrace the cheese and the fantastical would be nothing like Waititi's garbage. It would be a swashbuckling mythic tale with Thor and The Warriors Three fighting Storm Giants, drinking mead, and talking Shakesperean. Not Thor not giving a shit about The Warriors Three, talking in plain boring English, and wanting to [frick] his hammer.

Slotherin - 1/3/2024, 8:30 PM

@URCOMMENTSUCKS - yes guy. Everything you assume about my stances and opinions on things is true.
Thor [frick]ing a hammer is high art and you have no rhythm.

WEAPONXOXOXO - 1/3/2024, 10:46 AM

It still not too late for them to save Thor with this story line. And we would get to see the Celestials again.

1 2

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Thor: Love and Thunder