Thor 4 leak suggests Christian Bale could be the MCU’s new Thanos

Is Gorr the God Butcher Marvel’s next Thanos? The supervillain — who will be played by Christian Bale in Taika Waititi’s Thor: Love and Thunder — is one of several notable baddie confirmed to be making their Marvel Cinematic Universe debut in Phase 4 (others include Taskmaster and Kang the Conqueror). But some new theories suggest that Gorr may play a larger role in the MCU than fans initially expected.

Thor: Love and Thunder leak reveals Gorr-y new details

A new report from Daniel Richtman claims that Christian Bale will be returning as Gorr in the MCU after Thor: Love and Thunder. Richtman has a mixed track record with MCU leaks, but this one is too interesting to ignore. Still, take everything that follows with a heaping Asgardian-sized serving of salt.

The claims that Bale could be locked into a multi-film contract has led many Marvel fans to speculate about Gorr’s overall role in Phase 4 and beyond. As his name suggests, the character is a powerful villain from the Marvel comics — one that’s not to be messed with — and Bale isn’t an actor that Marvel would want to waste on a one-dimensional villain.

So is it possible that Gorr could be Marvel's new Thanos-like overarching villain?

Who is Gorr in Marvel?

Gorr the God Butcher is a recent creation in the Marvel comics — appearing for the first time in the second issue of 2012’s Thor: God of Thunder. Born on a nameless planet, Gorr’s parents died when he was young and he spent most of his life suffering and starving. In case that wasn’t already bad enough, all of Gorr’s family (including his wife and children) died from the planet’s harsh environment.

Following the deaths of his family, Gorr began to believe that there were no actual gods in the universe, as none had provided any aid when he and his family needed it. So when Gorr saw two battling gods fall from the sky, he became enraged, vowing vengeance over all gods in the multiverse for leaving him and his family to suffer and die. He took up one of the fallen god’s weapons known as (get ready for this)... All-Black the Necrosword, and used it to kill the other remaining god. From that point on, Gorr became an immortal God Butcher and dedicated thousands of years to hunting and killing as many gods as he could find throughout the cosmos.

Gorr eventually claimed the “Pool of Forevers” and used to it move freely throughout the timestream, traveling back and forward in time in order to kill both elder and future gods alike. He eventually came into conflict with Thor, battling multiple different versions of the Avenger throughout the multiverse. That last detail will no doubt play into Thor: Love and Thunder as well, since the film is confirmed to feature both Chris Hemsworth’s Thor and Natalie Portman’s Jane Foster taking on the God of Thunder mantle as "Mighty Thor."

The Inverse Analysis — There’s a lot of mystery surrounding Marvel’s Phase 4 plans right now. Aside from the studio’s actual slate of upcoming titles, Marvel has held off on announcing much about its overall vision for the MCU’s future. On the one hand, that means it’s entirely possible that Gorr could be the MCU’s newest Thanos. On the other hand, it’s really impossible to know.

Gorr isn’t the only villain rumored to be appearing across multiple Phase 4 titles either. Many fans believe that the villainous Mephisto will have a role to play in the MCU moving forward, following an Easter egg hinting at the character’s presence in the Loki trailer and several ongoing WandaVision theories and rumors. Jonathan Majors is also set to make his MCU debut as Kang the Conqueror in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, and it seems highly unlikely given Kang’s history in the comics, that his time in the MCU will be limited to that one sequel.

In other words, the MCU’s future is ripe with possibilities right now. For all fans know, Marvel may even be setting up not just one villain to fill Thanos’ shoes moving forward, but several.

Thor: Love and Thunder will release in theaters on May 6th, 2022.