“Thor: Love and Thunder” Teaser Reveals Fresh Footage of Christian Bale’s Lunatic Gorr

July 5, 2022

As much fun as it must be to play Thor or Valkryie or Korg or even Miek in writer/director Taika Waititi’s candy-colored vision for Thor: Ragnarok and now Thor: Love and Thunder, Christian Bale looks like he had an extra good time playing the new film’s big bad. Bale plays Gorr the God Butcher, a ghostly pale sociopath hellbent on obliterating all gods and goddesses from the universe. In a new teaser for Love and Thunder, we get to see some new Gorr moments as he sets his sights squarely on the God of Thunder, and Bale looks like he’s having the time of his life.

Not that Thor (Chris Hemsworth, of course) and his assorted pals aren’t also having a hoot. Love and Thunder promises more glorious insanity courtesy of Waititi’s go-for-broke approach with the franchise and the insanely talented ensemble on hand. That includes the Guardians of the Galaxy, Tessa Thompson’s aforementioned Valkryie, Waititi’s very own Korg (a rock monster that Waititi plays in a motion-capture suit), and the return of Natalie Portman as Jane Foster. You likely know by now that Jane has changed—she’s now Mighty Thor, capable of wielding the magical hammer Mjolnir—and she has a huge part to play here.

Yet the new teaser also reminds us how fun it is to play the villain. Bale, looking like a demented wraith in desperate need of a trip to the dentist, is investing his particular brand of intensity into Gorr and looks delighted to be doing so. In Thor: Ragnarok, Hemsworth’s God of Thunder had his work cut out for him fighting Cate Blanchett’s Hela. Blanchett, of course, is one of the great performers of her generation, so it makes sense that for the sequel, Waititi tapped another stellar performer in Bale.

Check out the teaser below. Thor: Love and Thunder arrives in theaters on July 8.