Gorr’s MCU Design Was Changed to Avoid Voldemort Comparisons

June 30, 2022

Fans who are familiar with the comics that the upcoming Thor: Love and Thunder is adapting will notice that Christian Bale’s Gorr the God Butcher looks a bit different than he does in the source material. According to director Taika Waititi, there is a Harry Potter-related reason for that.

“His face in the comics, unfortunately, does kind of resemble Voldemort,” Waititi said in a recent interview with IGN. “You know, so I was like people are going to just automatically going to make that connection. So we decided to depart from that design a bit more, sort of keep elements of the tone, and the fact that he had the sword. But really, it was about his story, that was the most important thing for us.”

Taika Waititi wanted to avoid people comparing #Gorr to Voldemort, so they decided to change Gorr's design in the movie. #ThorLoveAndThunder pic.twitter.com/sepAnGyiww

— IGN (@IGN) June 29, 2022

Due to Gorr’s more alien-like look in the comics, Waititi wasn’t the only one worried about how the villain would come across on screen. In an interview last month, Christian Bale also joked about being worried about the villain’s apparent G-string and how he would have to manage wearing that. Fortunately for Bale, Waititi and Marvel Studios went for a more conventional look for Gorr, while making sure to keep some of the more scary aspects of the character for the film.

Thor: Love and Thunder sees the return of MCU alums Chris Hemsworth as the God of Thunder, Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie, and Natalie Portman as Jane Foster, who is now taking on the mantle of the Mighty Thor and will be wielding the iconic Mjolnir. Oscar-winner Christian Bale will also be making his return to the superhero genre as he signs on for the villainous role of Gorr the God Butcher.

Thor: Love and Thunder is once again being directed by Waititi (Jojo Rabbit) from a script he co-wrote with Jennifer Kaytin Robinson (Someone Great), which will be the follow-up to Waititi’s Thor: Ragnarok.

It is currently scheduled to arrive in theaters on July 8.