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During Disney’s Investor Day event, Marvel Studios confirmed Christian Bale and Jonathan Majors’ villainous roles in Thor: Love and Thunder and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quatumania, respectively. While Majors’ role of Kang the Conqueror was rumored already, Bale’s role has been more illusive, but now, we know that he’s playing the menacing Gorr the God Butcher, who has arguably done more damage to Thor’s life than any other villain. But if you’re not familiar with the comics, these names probably sound pretty random, so here’s a quick rundown on these two new characters and what their arrival could mean for the future (and past) of the MCU.
Gorr the God Butcher
Exactly like it says in his name, Gorr‘s whole deal is murdering gods for failing the mortal beings who look to them for protection. Armed with an ancient symbiote sword, All-Black the Necromancer, a vengeful Gorr has spent centuries murdering the deities of the Marvel universe throughout time and space. After being introduced in 2012’s Thor: God of Thunder by writer Jason Aaron, Gorr has wreaked significant havoc on Thor’s life that’s still reverberating in the comics today. Specifically, Gorr’s justifiable hatred of the gods resulted in Thor becoming “unworthy,” which led to Jane Foster wielding Mjolnir and becoming The Mighty Thor. Considering that Natalie Portman has confirmed that she’ll be wielding the hammer in Thor: Love and Thunder, it sounds like the fourth film will pull from Thor’s epic encounter with Gorr.
As for Gorr’s implications on the MCU, the character has recently been tied to Venom, which could get interesting. He’s also manipulated time in his quest to kill all of the gods, and messing with the very fabric of reality seems to be a major theme in the Phase 4 slate of films. That’s exactly in the wheelhouse of Major’s villain.
Kang the Conqueror
Despite being one of the “smaller” pieces of the MCU, the third Ant-Man movie will introduce Kang the Conqueror, who has long been a Thanos-level threat to the Marvel universe in the comics. A master traveler of time, Kang has no qualms with altering reality in his quest to rule the universe. While his backstory is enough to make even the most hardcore comics fans go cross-eyed, Kang is believed to be the father of the Fantastic Four‘s Reed Richards. We now know that the classic team is making its MCU debut, thanks to Spider-Man: Homecoming director Jon Watts, so it’d be safe to assume that Kang’s presence won’t be contained to Ant-Man 3 as the MCU presumably changes while colliding with the “multi-verse” that either opened from the events of Avengers: Endgame or will be soon when WandaVision hits Disney+. Either way, Kang’s sure to be at the center of it, and the MCU will look dramatically different when the dust settles.
