Hela’s Death Set Up Gorr:
Gorr the God Butcher is on his way to reigning supreme hell on our beloved gods, and he straight up agonizes. Christian Bale is all set to star as Gorr the God Butcher in Thor: Love and Thunder, which is set to release on May 6, 2022, as the release date was pushed further from February 11 following the announcement in Disney’s Investor Day event. Fans are particularly not surprised with the casting confirmation but they likely had no idea as to who would Bale play in Thor: Love and Thunder, directed by Taika Waititi.
The fans are ready to embrace all the new elements that are being introduced by the writer Jason Aaron and this new character, which was co-created by Aaron, and are ready to welcome Gorr on the big screen. In the comics, Gorr did not believe that gods exist after a tragedy befell upon him in which his family died, and so he did not believe in the concept of gods. But upon the discovery of knowledge that gods do exist, Gorr vowed to kill them all as punishment for letting him go through the pain of losing his loved ones and not stepping in between to prevent such tragedies. Gorr is driven by his anger and extreme hatred towards God who didn’t act towards saving his family.
In the comics, Gorr’s story goes back 3,000 years. He grew up in an arid, doomed world, and eventually developed a bitter hatred of the gods who had failed to save his family from death in the harsh environment. Finally, Gorr stumbled upon the bodies of two gods who had fallen to the ground locked in combat; one had stabbed the other with a fearsome weapon called All-Black the Necrosword, which imbued him with the power to slay the gods. He was transformed into one of the most powerful beings of all creation, slaughtering gods for millennia. And now, there’s a theory that tells that Hela’s death in Thor: Ragnarok could have set up Bale’s villain, Gorr the God Butcher.
In the comics, Hela traditionally wields a cursed blade called the Nightsword. But in Thor: Ragnarok, Marvel merged the Nightsword with All-Black the Necrosword, making Hela even more powerful than in the comics themselves. Hela could manifest the Necrosword to magnificent effect, and the sheer might of Hela’s weapon was perfectly displayed with the ease with which she killed Thor’s closest friend, the Warriors Three. This naturally causes a major problem for Thor: Love & Thunder, because the Necrosword is the key to Gorr’s power – and it has already been done.
Thor: Ragnarok ended with Thor and Loki collectively unleashing Surtur, as he was hell-bent on destroying Asgard, of the Realm Eternal. In the climax, we see Hell go down with the destruction of Asgard by Surtur, which looked like was sufficient to kill her. But this is an assumption, and there’s a fair chance that she survived. Her body could have been blasted through space – or, alternatively, she could have been plunged into the portals beneath the cataract around Asgard, just as Loki was in the first Thor film. These unstable portals transported Loki into Thanos’ presence, and they could have taken Hela’s burning body anywhere in the cosmos.
Set photos from Thor: Love & Thunder appear to tease Gorr’s origin story, and it could easily be rewritten to incorporate Hela. In the comics, Gorr stumbled upon All-Black the Necrosword when he came across the near-dead bodies of two gods who had been attempting to kill one another. In the comics, Gorr actually stumbles upon Hela’s body. his would allow Gorr to retain his signature weapon in the MCU without feeling reductive due to the similarities between his weapon and Hela’s; there would be a simple narrative thread running between the two.
Appropriately enough, it would suggest Thor: Ragnarok served as the end of one cycle – with the destruction of Asgard, and the deaths of Odin and the Warriors Three – and the beginning of the next. Thor Odinson and Jane Foster’s Thor would find themselves confronting a capricious being with all the power of Hela. Rather than a moment of sacrificial triumph, Asgard’s destruction would be recast as a flawed decision that increased the scale of the threat.
Marvel has recently revealed the full history of All-Black the Necrosword as part of a phenomenal ongoing story told by writer Donny Cates. It was forged in the days when the universe was young, by Knull the God of Death and Darkness. He ruled in those long-distant days, using the Necrosword as a weapon against the evolving pantheons and even slaying the Celestials. According to Silver Surfer: Black, Knull’s rage delayed the development of life across the entire universe. The story of Knull is literally coming to a head right now in the hugely popular King In Black event – and All-Black could be used to set something similar up in the MCU as well.
Relations between Marvel Comics and Marvel Studios have improved over the last year, but they were tense and distant through much of Donny Cates’ build-up to King In Black, meaning it is doubtful anyone involved in the MCU had any real idea what he was planning. Even if they did, they could not have possibly predicted how popular King In Black would be.
But, by revealing the Necrosword passed from one bearer to another, they would implicitly create the potential for Knull in the MCU as well – because there is no reason Thor: Love & Thunder would need to suggest Hela was its creator.
