Thor: Love and Thunder continues to hit theaters as God of Thunder reunites with Jane Foster to protect his friends, family and people in New Asgard. The latest threat to the titular hero comes in the form of Christian Bale’s Gorr the God Butcher, arguably one of the MCU’s most terrifying and intense villains to date.
Ahead of the release of Thor 4, one hot topic of conversation revolved around how Bale would appear to be the film’s core antagonist, bringing on a villain who looks quite scary compared to many of his Marvel Comics counterparts. It was clear from the start that this display would not be 100% accurate, but on his first appearance in the film’s second trailer, fans were quick to share their excitement about what was going on.
Another View That Becomes an Unused Concept
The biggest change Gorr made from the comics to Thor 4 was the absence of alien tendrils on his head, as the film made him look a lot more human behind Christian Bale’s passionate onscreen performance. However, that’s not always the case, as the new concept art provides an overview of how Bale’s design changed during the development process for this new sequel.
Character designer Ken Barthelmey took to Instagram to share new concept art depicting Christian Bale’s Gorr the God Butcher from Marvel Studios’ Thor: Love and Thunder.
His first designs for Gorr gave the character a much more alien feel, making him look a little more like a fish with slit-like nostrils and wrinkles on his face that almost looked like gills. Additionally, there are a number of protrusions that stick out from the back of his skull to give him a much scarier look than how he appears in the final cut of the film.
The second design retains the same head and skull structure as the first, but changes its face significantly.
The MCU is certainly learning to allow for scarier elements in its storytelling, as Doctor Strange 2 and some of the Moon Knight parts on Disney+ attest to. While Gorr may not look as scary as he could have in his final design, the MCU hasn’t avoided characters of the same vein.