Filming has only just begun on Thor: Love and Thunder, and already fans are piecing together clues about the feature. Written and directed by Taika Waititi, the movie will follow on from 2017’s Thor: Ragnarok and 2019’s Avengers: Endgame, expanding on the new, more jovial version of the God of Thunder offered by these entries. Also featuring the Guardians of the Galaxy and the return of Natalie Portman as Jane Foster, Love and Thunder will supposedly examine the idea of ‘Lady Thor’ and other alternate comic versions of the character.
However, the biggest draw for fans may be the film’s antagonist: Christian Bale as Gorr the God Butcher. A beloved anti-hero from the comics, Gorr is from a nameless alien planet plagued by droughts and earthquakes: he desperately prays to various gods to save his people from these natural disasters, but none do, so Gorr vows to kill them all. This murder-filled mission has led Gorr to try to ‘butcher’ Thor many a time, with the use of his weapon ‘All-Black the Necrosword’: a blade forged by weaponsmith Knull that gives the user extreme speed, strength, and a shroud of Berserkers to assist them. With Bale playing Gorr in Love and Thunder, fans can be assured that the film will offer some top-notch action.
Moreover, and not just for that movie: Bale has reportedly signed a multi-film deal with Marvel, opening up the possibility for Gorr to return multiple times (like he does in the comics). Equally, there have been reports that Jonathan Major, who is slated to play villain Kang in the upcoming Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, has signed a similar deal, indicating that his antagonist will also be around for a while in the MCU. While it’s by no means unheard-of for actors to sign multi-film deals with Marvel (the entire prospect of a cinematic universe is centered on such deals), it is quite rare for villains to get this treatment. Apart from exceptions like Tom Hiddleston’s Loki, Josh Brolin’s Thanos, or Daniel Brühl’s Helmut Zemo, virtually no villain from the MCU has returned multiple times; so, what’s changed?
From the very beginning of Phase 1, Marvel has been criticized as having a ‘villain problem’, in two regards. First, the antagonists are usually quite predictable – they’re just an evil version of the hero. From Iron Monger in Iron Man (2008) and Hornet in Ant-Man (2015) to Kaecilius in Doctor Strange (2016), Marvel’s villains often seem to be one-note, maniacal mirrors of the film’s titular hero. Equally, it’s very difficult to take the threat they pose seriously as they’re only around for a film, and the heroes are slated for a few more down the line: no one really believed that the Dark Elves would win in Thor: The Dark World (2013), because everyone knew that Thor needed to return for Avengers 2. The short half-life of Marvel’s villains has made it hard for them to be intimidating, or for them to really influence the MCU at-large in any way.
There’s no better example of this than the inverse: the only villains that are actually memorable and influential are the ones that have been reoccurring throughout the MCU: Loki and Thanos. The character development and long-term ‘damage’ caused by these two antagonists have made them not only very popular with fans (popular enough that Loki has his own miniseries coming up) but also pivotal to the franchise story-telling offered by the Marvel (the Avengers would never have formed if not to face the threat posed by them). In other words, without these reoccurring villains, there would be no MCU, per se.
So, what does the multi-picture deal signed by Bale and Majors mean? It shows that Marvel is aware of this ‘villain’ problem, and they’re taking steps to fix it. Part of the magic of the comics is the consistency of the ‘rogues gallery’; the familiar evil faces that can pop-up to face various characters. One week Spider-Man may be fighting Kraven, the next week Black Panther could – by reoccurring, the villains flesh out the ‘universe’ of the comics and give the heroes a reason to interact. Now, it would seem Kevin Feige is bringing a similar idea to the MCU. Maybe one film Ant-Man and the Wasp are facing Kang, and a few films down the line, Kang is facing off against the Fantastic Four? By utilizing villains in this way, it would not only streamline various films (Marvel wouldn’t have to spend a third of a movie introducing a brand-new villain only to kill them off straight away) but the MCU as a whole, uniting the heroes more than ever.
Furthermore, perhaps it’s indicative of how the MCU will function post-Infinity Saga. There has been a lot of speculation on who ‘the next Thanos’ is; i.e., who is the next big threat that causes the Avengers to return. Perhaps, instead of having one big bad, the MCU will feature multiple smaller foes, interweaving and teaming up against the heroes? There’s still a lot that fans don’t know, but one thing is for certain – the MCU has a new approach to villains.
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