Thor: Love and Thunder is here. While fans are excited to see Chris Hemsworth back as Thor and the return and reintroduction of Natalie Portman’s Jane Foster, the real reasons fans are here this time around is for Christian Bale and his characterization of Gorr The God Butcher.

Over the years, Gorr has cemented himself as one of Thor’s main supervillains. While the version viewers will see on screen is expected to be different from its comic book counterpart, he is still a compelling character to get to know.

Without further ado, here is everything you should know about Gorr The God Butcher, and if you’re interested in learning more about Jane Foster before going to watch Thor: Love and Thunder, you can read our deep dive into the character here.

Gorr The God Butcher A.K.A Gorr the Redeemer A.K.A Killer of Gods A.K.A Butcher of Gods A.K.A The Black Butcher

First appearance: Thor: God of Thunder #2 (January 2013)

Abilities: Gorr The God Butcher is an alien and has a symbiote (the same type known as Venom) which grants him virtual immortality and allows him to boast superhuman strength, durability and endurance.

Gorr wields a blade forged by Knull known as “All-Black the Necrosword”, which was created using the head of a slain Celestial. The blade has many fantastical powers and allows its user to create wings flying at extreme speeds and conjuring a shroud of Berserkers constructed out of the darkness.

Gorr can also create deathly sharp tendrils able to kill any gods, including the Asgardians. He is also responsible for creating an anti-divinity armament designed to kill every god who had existed or ever would exist, called the Godbomb.

Gorr is a reasonably new addition to the Marvel universe, only debuting back in 2013 in Thor: God of Thunder #2. During this comic, we see Thor decide to answer the desperate prayers of a young alien child. By doing so, Thor helps end the drought plaguing the young girl’s planet and saves her people. After lending aid, Thor questions the girl about why the gods of her world didn’t come to her aid, and the girl explains that they don’t have gods anymore because they were all slain by the god killer.

Gorr is an alien who grew up on an unnamed, lonely planet and had a life strife with disaster. All the inhabitants of this planet believed in the gods, but it never seemed like the gods thought of them. After losing his entire family, Gorr and his people constantly prayed to the gods for help. When their pleas continued to go unanswered, and Gorr witnessed his wife’s and children’s deaths, he turned against his upbringing and his people. He declared that the gods don’t exist, an action that led to him being exiled from his home.

Shortly after his exile, Gorr not only finds out that the gods are real but ends up walking straight into a battle between the two of them. One of these gods is Knull, the god of the symbiotes and the creator of both Venom and Carnage. As Gorr is watching this fight, he becomes infuriated when one of the gods dares to ask him for help after all the years he spent begging for theirs. During this battle, Knull falls unconscious, and his armour, the first symbiote, known as All-Black the Necrosword, merges onto Gorr.

Fueled by his newfound powers and the confirmation that the gods are real and have the power to protect the weak but are unwilling to do so, Gorr decides to dedicate his life to making sure every god is eliminated. In the comics, the story of Gorr the God Butcher spans thousands of years. It’s a story filled with time travel and sees Gorr fight multiple versions of Thor across history.

Gorr wields the All-Black the Necrosword and goes on a god-killing rampage through the universe before eventually bumping into the God of Thunder himself back in the medieval era. At this point, Gorr had become so powerful that he almost killed Thor, but when a group of Vikings showed up to save Thor, Gorr escaped with his arm severed. Gorr is now even angrier and enslaves the god of bombs, forcing him to create the Godbomb, a weapon powerful enough to kill all the gods in space and time.

However, unbeknownst to Gorr, he has slowly been turning more and more into the gods he so hated and sought to destroy throughout the centuries. The only way to stop Gorr’s ungodly (pun intended) rampage is for past, present, and future Thor to come together. Using two Moljnirs and taking possession of the Necrosword. The Thor’s finally ended Gorr and stopped the Godbomb before it could be used.

Thor: Love and Thunder will likely see some significant changes to the comic book, and instead of having a battle between Gorr and past, present and future Thor, we will probably see a fight with Valkyrie, Mighty Thor, and Thor Odinson (who, according to the comics are “technically” a past, a present and a future version of Thor).

If, like us, you can’t wait to see Christian Bale’s take on Gorr The God Butcher for yourself but still want to know more about the character, remember to head over to Critters and Comics to pick up some of the comics while also supporting your local comic book shop.

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