Thor: Love & Thunder Set Photos Reveal First Look At Bale’s Villain In Costume

The latest images from the set of Thor: Love and Thunderoffer the first look at its villain, Gorr the God Butcher, played by Christian Bale. Marking the reunion MCU project for director Taika Waititi and Chris Hemsworth since their first collaboration in Thor: Ragnarok, there’s understandably a lot of excitement about this new movie. The overall plot is still unknown at the moment, but the story will see Gorr the God Butcher as its primary bad guy.

Officially announced during Marvel Studios’ Hall H panel back in San Diego Comic-Con 2019, Thor: Love and Thunder breaks the MCU’s trilogy formula, with the Asgardian Avenger being the first hero to get a fourth standalone project. This was largely due to the success of Ragnarok and the overwhelmingly positive response to his arc in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. But, the upcoming blockbuster won’t be solely focused on him. Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) is also returning to the franchise, and this time, she’s set to assume her own superhero persona in Mighty Thor. Principal photography for the flick has wrapped up for a while now in Australia, but, as it turns out, additional work is currently ongoing.

Courtesy of The Daily Mail (via Thor: Love and Thunder News) are fresh shots of Bale in costume as Gorr the God Butcher for Thor: Love and Thunder. Filming has relocated in Malibu from the Land Down Under, although it’s unclear how long pick-ups will continue. Check out the images below:

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Given the lack of context for these images, it’s difficult to gauge what’s exactly going on with the scene that Bale is filming. No other prominent actor from the cast of Thor: Love and Thunder was spotted in the area, so chances are that he was filming on his own. Interestingly, however, it’s curious why the Marvel Studios production has to film on location. According to The Daily Mail, Bale was seen walking on the beaches in-between takes. Regardless of the story element with regard to these snaps, the fact that he is wearing full prosthetics for his role as Gorr the God Butcher is very impressive. Considering how advanced VFX technology has become in recent years, doing full CGI could’ve been an option. Instead, like Paul Bettany, Karen Gillan, Dave Bautista as Vision, Nebula, and Drax the Destroyer, they went with practical makeup. Of course, that doesn’t mean that there won’t be any computer graphics added to the character. Chances are, that the finer details will be worked on during post-production.

A relatively new character in the Marvel comics, Gorr the God Butcher first appeared in the January 2015 comic, Thor: God of Thunder #2, although his narrative origin goes back 3,000 years. Originally from a grim planet, the character suffered a crisis of faith after his whole family was killed due to the harsh conditions in his homeworld. He eventually planned his revenge on the Gods by bonding with a weapon called All-Black the Necrosword which he used to kill his first God victim. In print, he encounters Thor and tortures him to reveal the location of the Asgardians. It’s curious how much of this will factor in Thor: Love and Thunder. While Marvel Studios tends to update their characters, they mostly remain faithful to their origin stories to honor the comics.

Source: The Daily Mail (via Thor: Love and Thunder News)

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