Thor: Love and Thunder Director Changed Gorr’s Look to Avoid Voldemort Comparisons

Christian Bale’s latest role has seen him undergo a transformation into Gorr the God Butcher, the dastardly villain in the upcoming sequel Thor: Love and Thunder. The character is directly inspired by a comic book version of Gorr who had terrorized gods on the printed page before his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut. But while there are some similarities between the original Gorr and this new live-action version played by Bale, there are some big differences as well, and that’s thanks to the Harry Potter franchise.

In a new interview with IGN, Thor: Love and Thunder director Taika Waititi explained the thought process behind designing the live-action Gorr. Looking at the comic book version, Waititi saw some clear similarities between the supervillain and Voldemort, the big bad from the Harry Potter series played by Ralph Fiennes. Because Waititi envisioned countless filmgoers making that comparison, he felt it was necessary to give Gorr a bit of a redesign.

“His face in the comics, unfortunately, does kind of resemble Voldemort. So, I was like, ‘People are just automatically going to make that connection.’ So we decided to depart from that design a bit more and sort of keep elements of the tone, and the fact that he had the sword. Really, it was about his story. That was the most important thing for us.”

Related: Why Thor: Love and Thunder Does Not Need a Multiverse Connection

Gorr the God Butcher Could’ve Looked Like Voldemort

Christian Bale has also spoken out about his look in Thor: Love and Thunder. In an interview with ComicBook.com, he commented on Gorr’s appearance in the comic books, and for the actor, he was concerned that he wasn’t physically muscular enough to accurately represent the supervillain. That explains another reason for the change in Gorr and why he looks a bit slimmer in comparison to the more buff version that’s in the comics.

“I was coming off of a film where it had been necessary to be sort of rather lacking in muscle and then I saw the images and thought, ‘Well, that’s not gonna be possible… and this g-string thing that’s going on there,'” Bale said. “He looked in the comic books like physically, you know, someone to reckon with though. And I said, ‘Well, you know, that’s just not gonna be possible in the state I’m in. And we literally have three days between me finishing one film and heading over to Australia for the quarantine and whatnot. I like to usually have much more time in between, but the pandemic meant that things got worked out that way.”

It’s perhaps for the best that Thor: Love and Thunder‘s Gorr had some changes with his adaptation for the big screen. Christian Bale’s debut in the MCU could have otherwise been affected by these comparisons. He will be better able to shine on his own as Taika Waititi has also promised that Gorr is one of the best characters Marvel fans have seen yet. Thor: Love and Thunder will premiere in theaters on July 8, 2022.