One of the most eagerly anticipated MCU films in recent memory was Thor: Love and Thunder, but reviews have been conflicting ever since. Many people did not like the excessively humorous tone, the rush of jokes and romance, and last but not least, the radical adjustments made to one of the most scary villains in the Marvel universe.
It is no secret that the MCU frequently alters a character significantly from the comic books, and we must admit that this sometimes becomes necessary. In this video, we will go over the modifications made to Christian Bale’s portrayal of Gorr and let you decide whether or not they were a success.
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The appearance of Gorr is completely different
When viewing Love and Thunder, one of the first things you will notice is how drastically Marvel altered Gorr’s appearance from the comic books. Thor’s adversary is much creepier in the comic book version, as he is depicted as lean and strong.
He does not exactly have a human face to begin with, and after taking possession of the Necrosword, it seems to have developed into something horrible. The way Gorr appeared in the comic books was a little different as well. He was frequently depicted wearing a flowing black robe over g-strings, giving the impression that he never missed leg day.
Despite the humor, Gorr, the God Butcher’s menacing visage was not adequately portrayed in the film, but there are a few reasons why. First of all, Christian Bale was arriving right after finishing a movie that required him to be completely muscle-free. He was very underweight, and the timeline did not allow for him to gain weight in time for the role.
The actor revealed in an interview that he was hesitant about the exact comic book costume because of the lack of muscles, and this is when the director and actor took the call to delve more into the supernatural powers.
They decide to dress up the character in loosely fitted robes that cover most of his body, contrary to what you saw in the comic books. Gorr still possesses the Necrosword in the movie, and this ensures that he can slay Gods almost as easily as his comic book counterpart.
The reason to not distort the face with extra prosthetics was probably a smart one because it would be a waste of a great actor like Christian Bale, who wouldn’t have the opportunity to portray the intricate facial expressions. He did steal the show with the limited screen-time that he had, and much of it was courtesy of his incredible acting skills!
His Origin Story was twisted in the movies
Firstly, we would have loved to see more of an origin story because the movie kind of abruptly cuts directly to the part where he loses his daughter and then his faith. The comic books back in the day put in a lot of effort to express the sequence of events that pushed him over the edge. He hailed from a planet that suffered from frequent earthquakes and a lack of food resources.
The people of the planet were still devoted to their Gods, but tragedies followed one after another. During one such devastating earthquake, Gorr lost his wife and he had to raise his children all by himself. He had barely recovered from the trauma when his children succumbed due to starvation.
This caused him to lose his faith in the Gods, but his fellow tribesmen did not take too kindly to his changed views. They exiled him, and he was banished, left to wander the barren landscapes. This was when he came across the Golden God fighting Knull, the Symbiote God.
The Golden God sought his help and Gorr refused and watched as Knull finished him off. Following this incident, Knull presented Gorr with the All-Black Necrosword, which greatly enhanced his powers and added a supernatural touch to a mere mortal. He pursued his tirade against the Gods, earning the title of a God Butcher.
The movie version doesn’t do justice to such an elaborate backstory. The opening scene of the movie cuts to a moment when Gorr is traveling through the desert with his daughter. They are unable to find food or water, and he watches helplessly as his daughter dies in his arms.
Later, he is drawn into a nearby Oasis by some mystical voice, and he is surprised to find the Golden God Rapu enjoying his life with an abundance of food and attendants. Gorr seeks a reward for suffering so much, but Rapu is too arrogant and ignorant of his plight. He considers mortals no more than his subjects and it is also revealed that he recently killed someone who wielded the Necrosword.
Gorr is disappointed in his God and he boldly renounces his faith, which is enough to incur the wrath of Rapu. The self-obsessed God tries to strangle him, when the Necrosword bonds with Gorr, probably fuelled by his intense hate. He stabs Rapu to death, and thus begins his journey of slaying Gods by the dozens, intending to eliminate them all eventually!
MCU version of Gorr is not a time-traveler
We cannot stress enough on how Gorr in the comic books is more powerful than his movie counterpart! In the comic book story arc, Gorr could travel through time because he had managed to enslave the Gods of time and use their powers to his advantage. He traveled back in time to kidnap Young Thor, and he even intended to build the mighty God-Bomb using him.
He also traveled into the future to meet the old Allfather Thor, and the comic books actually elaborate on three stages of Thor’s life – his past, present and future. The Young Thor was shown to be an arrogant and proud God, while the Allfather was a wiser and more mature version of him.
He had been through far too many fights and was battle-weary in his old age. Gorr manifested a different kind of hate for each of the Thor variants, and while the fake nobility in the Allfather Thor annoyed him, the brashness of youth and pride in young Thor irked him. Eventually, it required all three versions of Thor to come together to defeat the God Butcher!
The movie simply turns a blind eye to the entire storyline, and neither Thor nor Gorr, travel through time. It was probably a decision taken to simplify things for kids, but the true Marvel fans would have loved to see the real strength of the God Butcher being dealt with!
Nothing about the God Bomb in the movie
While both the movie and comic book version of Gorr focus on making Gods extinct from the universe, the methods that they choose are vastly different. In the comic version, Gorr intended to develop a hyperdimensional God Bomb, which would have the potential to kill every existing God in the universe after exploding. This special bomb would have elements of time magic, and the Necrosword would be the fuel to power this bomb.
In this regard, the movie probably does a better job with a more elaborate plan for Gorr. He seeks to make use of the Stormbreaker and generate the Bifrost yet again. This would help him reach Eternity, the cosmic being who existed before the beginning of time. The first one to reach Eternity is granted a solitary wish, and Gorr would wish for all Gods to be dead! For us, this is one change that made more sense and also added to the mystifying element of the movie.
Gorr in the comic books lacked empathy
We don’t know about you, but it is a bummer when you see the supposedly dreaded villain answering to his empathetic side! That is exactly what happens in the movies, and this moment takes many by surprise. He actually turns his arch-rivalry with Thor into empathy, and the final scenes of the movie almost show him with a bit too much humanity.
He is presented as a helpless father who merely took to the role of the serial killer of Gods as a way to deal with the pain of losing his daughter. All it took was the possibility to return his daughter to life, and he willingly left his initial goal of eliminating all Gods from the universe.
Besides the soapy climactic moments of the movie, there are times when we see him feeling sympathetic towards the likes of Valkyrie and Jane. He almost feels sad about how both of them have been unjustly treated by Thor, and we never really see the wildly violent side of the character.
In the comic books, it was still his child that brought about his end, but the whole thing happened only when he realized that his plan had backfired. He no longer had the choice to kill all Gods and so there was never a question of him backing out of it! The MCU version of Gorr maybe suitable for a family drama, but it will certainly disappoint those who are looking for the dark and grim version of the God Butcher that they have been used to in the comics.
There was no Jane Foster to defeat Gorr in the comics!
We have already explained how Thor from three different timelines gets together to fight the ultimate threat in the form of Gorr, the God Butcher. In comic books, there is no involvement of Jane Foster in the fight against Gorr. In the movie, of course, Jane Foster has become worthy to wield the Mjolnir and she has all the powers of the Thunder God.
She is an equal ally in the battle against Gorr, and this basically resulted from clubbing together another comic book story arc with the God Butcher storyline. Since the movie does not explore the possibility of time travel and there are no Young Thor and Allfather Thor, the new allies are Korg, Valkyrie, and Jane as Mighty Thor. After Korg and Valkyrie are out of the fight, it is up to Thor and his ex-girlfriend to ensure that all Gods in the universe are not eliminated!
The concept of Shadow Realm is very different in the movie
The idea of Shadow Realm being a plane of existence for Gorr, the God Butcher has been found in the comic books as well as the movie. However, the concept behind the realm is considerably different. The comic book version presents it as a two-dimensional plane, which is almost inaccessible.
The movie adds a nice cool touch to it by suggesting that this realm is devoid of any light or color. It looked scary enough when we got a few glimpses of this creepy, dark world. It is made evident in the movie that Gorr is far more powerful in the Shadow Realm, but the comic books make no such claim.
However, it makes sense even for the comic version because the Shadow Realm is also related to Knull, just like the Necrosword, and it could be possible that the region offers maximum powers to Gorr, making him near-invincible. Maybe, if the film had more of an explanation for the origin of the Necrosword, the concept of the Shadow Realm would become clearer to the viewers.
Sadness and Love take precedence over anger
Gorr, the God Butcher is almost continuously angry in the comic books. His rage is so extreme that he uses the most gruesome methods to slaughter the Gods that he comes across. The story does well to show the reader what drove him to this point, and it keeps up with his foul temper throughout the narrative.
His anger keeps growing with every new God that he slays and it never really subsides until its all over for him. The ruthless version of Gorr is nowhere to be found in the movies, where he is more sad than anything else. Yes, there are moments when you see him embracing his menacing side, but such moments are far and few between.
The Necrosword helped him recreate his family in the comics
The final moments of Love and Thunder show how Gorr uses Eternity to get his daughter back from the dead. It is an emotional moment as he lies dying after the destruction of his Necrosword, and he is assured by Thor that his daughter will be cared for. The comic book version is far less dramatic, and it is, in fact, a bit too harsh. Here, Gorr is troubled by his loss and his solitude so much that he manifests his wife and his son.
These are simply his virtual constructs, but they are still shown to have their independent feelings and thoughts. Also, Gorr created his family using the Necrosword in the comic books, and he did not have to pray to Eternity for the same. The movie also changed his daughter to his son, even though Gorr has the same kind of intense love for his children in both versions.
The only rational reason behind the movie version of this seems to be the intention to make use of his daughter, Love, in the future. This daughter is back to life from Eternity itself, and the end-credits scene suggests that the child has superpowers and can even wield a supreme weapon like the Stormbreaker. We have to look to future movies to see if the child ends up becoming a major superhero who is almost as powerful as a celestial being!
He doesn’t resort to kidnapping to draw Thor in!
Gorr in the comic books is way more focused than his version depicted in Thor: Love and Thunder. For instance, he focuses on killing Gods and his ultimate goal of building the God bomb that would eliminate every last one of them. In order to reach his goal, he doesn’t resort to kidnapping children like some back-alley thug! The movie shows him kidnapping the children from New Asgard, and such unnecessary acts are not fitting for someone like Gorr. It is portrayed that he does so to draw Thor into his real where he is the strongest, but the God Butcher in the pages of the comic books did not share such insecurities! He could fight Thor pretty much anywhere, and get the better of him as well!
He is a lot weaker and younger in the movie
We are talking about Gorr, the God Butcher here! This is literally the guy who is stronger than just about every other villain and is shown slaying Gods like butchering sheep! Surely, you would expect the character to be formidable and invincible! Well, Thor: Love and Thunder certainly doesn’t pay attention to his physical strength.
Firstly, they don’t show him killing the Gods and a major chunk of his slaughter happens off-screen. Secondly, he doesn’t have the best-looking fighting style, and there are times when we see him beaten by mere Asgardians in hand-to-hand combat. He doesn’t really trouble Thor as much as we expect him to, and the final moments are a far cry from his potential in the comic books.
He also happens to be a lot younger than his comics counterpart because the latter has lived for thousands of years. The Necrosword managed to keep alive through the years even after being injured seriously a few times. This might also explain his lack of combat skills because the comic book Gorr had hundreds of years to perfect the art of taking down his enemies! However, this is really an excuse that we cooked up to bandage the flaws of the movie portrayal, and the narrative makes no such effort to explain anything to the audience!
He enslaves Gods in the comic books!
Yes, he maybe the infamous God Butcher, but he is not shown as a mindless killer in the comic books. Although he slaughters numerous Gods over the years, it is made clear that he also enslaves the ones he feels he can use further. In fact, there is an elaborate segment, where we see a whole lot of slaves working for Gorr, and he reveals that they are all minor Gods.
In the movie, this aspect is omitted altogether and we merely get to know that Gorr has begun a slaughter of the Gods across the universe. He doesn’t take any prisoners, and the only ones who fight alongside him are his shadow monsters.
Marvelous Verdict: A bit too much change for comfort!
As we have said before, changes are inevitable while adapting a character as big as Gorr, the God Butcher for a movie. However, we believe that Thor: Love and Thunder might have taken things a bit too far with the sheer number of changes that they introduced. In many cases, the changes made paled in comparison to the detailing and complexity of the comic book version, and this is something that can disappoint the fans.
Gorr is potentially among the greatest villains in the Marvel universe, and with a legendary actor like Christian Bale playing the role, we certainly expected more meat to his story arc! Yes, he is still one of the best things about the movie, but we simply cannot help but wonder how much better things could have been! Do let us know in the comments below what you think of the changes, and your overall views on the movie.
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