A Marvel fan's art for Thor: Love and Thunder depicts Christian Bale's Gorr the God Butcher in another of the actor's most famous roles.
Drawn by artist Ahmad Safwan and shared on Instagram, the image sees Gorr holding his sword with a maniacal expression on his face. It's a reference to 2000's American Psycho, in which Bale starred as Patrick Bateman, a narcissistic investment banker who moonlights as a serial killer. Safwan's drawing references a famous scene when, after analyzing the career arc of rock band Huey Lewis and the News, Bateman murders his coworker Paul Allen (Jared Leto) with an axe. Safwan captioned the drawing "So they didn't go CG with Gorr. Interesting. Hope we're seeing Christian Bale full unleashed in this, haha."
Bale joined the cast of Love and Thunder in January 2020, with his role later revealed as the film's primary villain, Gorr the God Butcher. Fans first got a look at Love and Thunder's iteration of Gorr from the promotional art for a line of Marvel Legends action figures.
Debuting in Marvel Comics in 2013, Gorr was originally an ordinary alien who, after tremendous hardship and tragedy, forsook his piety and turned his back on his gods. When he learned that the gods did exist but were seemingly indifferent to the struggles of mortals, Gorr snapped, stealing an ancient and powerful sword and swearing to kill all gods past, present and future, naturally leading to conflict with Thor and his allies.
Other new actors joining the cast of Love and Thunder include Russell Crowe as Zeus, Greek God of Thunder and King of Olympus, and Melissa McCarthy as an Asgardian actor playing Hela, Goddess of Death and main villain of Thor: Ragnarok. For many fans, however, the most exciting casting detail of the film is the return of Natalie Portman, reprising her role of astrophysicist Dr. Jane Foster from the first two Thor movies. In Love and Thunder, Jane will follow her comic book counterpart's story and gain godlike powers for herself, becoming a new Mighty Thor and wielding a reforged Mjolnir.
Given that Love and Thunder is set to expand the mythos of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's pantheon, some have theorized that it will feature a reference to or crossover with Moon Knight, which has focused on the gods of ancient Egypt. Beau DeMayo, a writer on Moon Knight, responded to the rumors on Twitter, saying "I don't know what they are doing in [Thor: Love and Thunder]. My honest answer is 'I don't know'… I'm like curious when I see Thor, like, 'Is there going to be something? Is there not?' That's kind of like—well, that's the thing at Marvel when you're writing for them is that they're very, very creatively collaborative, but you are kind of in your silo, your show."
Thor: Love and Thunder rockets into theaters on July 8, 2022.
Source: Instagram
