Thor: Love and Thunder has expertly given just enough narrative to get audiences interested in the film without giving too much away. One of the biggest factors yet to appear is the film's main antagonist, Gorr the God-Butcher. As his name would imply, he may be even more deadly than Hela or Thanos. But could it be that he's already earned his title because he's been slaying gods long before this film and winning the war against them?
While Gorr is new to the picture, the presence of godly beings in the Marvel Cinematic Universe has not. Aside from Asgard, the earliest mention of powerful creatures in the MCU were the Celestials. While it never got explained how the Celestial that created Knowhere got killed, one possibility could be that Gorr had done it at some point. Since he, in the comics, witnessed a battle with the Symbiote God Knull, it's plausible that his kind could live as long as Asgardians, or longer, further justifying how long he's been butchering. Perhaps after he killed that Celestial, he was forced to take a hiatus or was so far into deep space none had seen any other gods, hence why he's only just returned.
There's also the addition of more Celestials in Eternals and the fact that Arishem felt he still had to judge Earth after they stopped Tiamut's birth. That was far from the first time an Eternal defied their creator, and they likely still had more seeds on other planets waiting to be born. The reason could be that Gorr has greatly diminished the numbers of Celestials, and each one born could be crucial to their survival. Therefore, stopping the birth of even one could potentially mean many more deaths.
On top of that, there's also the Ennead in Moon Knight. These beings appear to be the first true gods in the MCU and have no celestial or cosmic ties. As a result, their power is immense and has made them a true force to be reckoned with. But for some unknown reason, they decided not to meddle in the development of humanity and instead took up avatars to observe Earth. With no reason given, speculation could lead to the possibility that they saw what Gorr had been doing to others like them and didn't want any unwanted attention from him. Because of this, they've chosen not to use their abilities and have imprisoned those that acted out or wanted to defy the laws designed to protect them.
Gorr the God-Butcher is a villain with a violent streak and no mercy left in his heart. But to have him start his massacre as soon as he debuts could diminish just how intimidating he could be. But if he's been at this for centuries prior, he would be a skilled and experienced killer who knows every trick to kill a god. As a result, it would take people who were never deities to find an out-of-the-box way to stop him.
After the likes of Hela and Thanos, Gorr would have to be something devastating to force Thor to give his all and gather help to defeat him. Should he have a hefty body count before he's even met one of the last Asgardians, that level of intimidation can easily get reached. And it would answer many of the questions that have remained in the MCU's cosmic arena. But even more than that, it would show just how driven Gorr is to have been killing for centuries with no sign of stopping.
To find out how much damage Gorr has done, Thor: Love and Thunder hits theaters July 8.
