We got our first glimpse of Christian Bale's Gorr The God Butcher with the release of the official trailer for Marvel’s fourth Thor film, but while some fans were shocked at his eerie transformation, others suffered a spot of déjà vu.
The trailer for the highly anticipated Thor: Love and Thunder dropped last night (May 23), promising all of the comedic beats MCU fans love about the first three instalments.
Just like the teaser which dropped last month, we see Chris Hemsworth’s Space Viking as he goes from ‘dad bod to god bod’, not to mention the return of Nathalie Portman’s Jane Foster wielding the Mjolnir as the Mighty Thor.
But it was Bale’s supervillain who really piqued fans’ interest, with many suggesting he looks too similar to Jared Leto’s Joker.
The comparison came about when Film and TV platform Culture Crave shared side-by-side pictures of Gorr on Twitter, writing: “First look at Christian Bale's Gorr the God Butcher in #ThorLoveAndThunder.”
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In response, one person wrote, “Looks like Jared Leto Joker,” while another similarly said, “It’s giving me Jared Leto’s joker..”
A third chimed in by saying he looks like Leto’s iteration of the DC villain but ‘without the red and green’.
Many people agreed with the resemblance, which is unusual given that Bale once starred as the Joker’s nemesis in Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy – albeit in a different Batman universe.
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Beyond the Joker comments, fans of the Marvel comics couldn’t help but notice Bale’s character doesn’t look all that similar to the source material.
On Twitter, one shared an image of the comic book Gorr and wrote: “The trailer looks so good but one thing I would change is Christian Bale Gorr the God Butcher version and make it like this version of the comic. I feel like the comic version would be scarier than this.”
Some have come up with a theory as to why this might be, speculating that Bale is such a revered actor that it would be a ‘sin’ to mask his entry into the MCU with too much CGI.
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One person replied: “Nah… let Christian Bale act his ass off instead of some CGI bulls**t or practical makeup covering up the acting. Sometimes change is alright.”
“People won't shut up about CGI if they did and it's Christian Bale. CGI-ing Christian Bale's character body in design is a sin for movies I think,” wrote a second.
While a third commented: “It depends on what suits the actor. Christian Bale is a very expressive person, covering that up with makeup would be a major waste. If you have a phenomenal actor just let them act.”
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Thor: Love and Thunder is released 8 July 2022.
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Topics: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, DC Comics, Joker, Jared Leto
Daisy Phillipson