Why Gorr the God Butcher is Thor’s best villain

Admittedly, the fourth Thor movie was not the best in the series or in the MCU canon. However, that doesn’t mean its villain isn’t great in his own right. Christian Bale’s Gorr the God Butcher has some of the best moments in the MCU even if the rest of the film proves to be subpar.

The film begins with Gorr walking through the desert with his daughter. In an attempt to find some sort of tranquil sanctuary, Gorr prays to his God Rapu for help for he and his daughter. However, the efforts prove to be fruitless as his daughter dies from the oppressive heat. Shortly afterwards, Gorr is called to the realm of Rapu and asks for “the eternal reward”. The God laughs in his face and refuses to help him. After Gorr renounces the arrogant God, he attempts to strangle Gorr, but Gorr picks up a nearby necrosword and kills Rapu, vowing to kill all Gods for their greed and selfishness.

Gorr is a villain that cuts to the heart of his grief and suffering and has more reason to be justifiably angry, even more so than Loki.

Gorr has lived his life following the teachings of his Gods and when he finally comes face-to-face with one, the entity turns him away and mocks him and when he has nothing left to lose, he dedicates the remainder of his life to the extinction of the Gods.

His status, honestly, dictates his motivation. That’s only said because he starts out as a low-level god-worshiper. Loki, on the other hand, while born as a frost giant, was raised in wealth under Odin and still had the primal motivation of going after the throne. Malekith the dark elf was too bland of a villain to have a palatable motivation other than world domination, but still commanded a legion of dark elves with power at his disposal. Hela worked under Odin but was betrayed and imprisoned by Odin only to have the motivation of reclaiming her throne.

The point is that all of the villains before Gorr had power and influence to some degree before they turned evil and Gorr began with nothing and his motivation was not for ruling over others or power, but to get rid of the Gods that he believed wronged him and left he and his daughter to rot. That’s why he remains the best Thor villain. His brilliance to turn something into nothing is the most respectable out of all of the villains, as well as his inherent need for retribution in the extermination of all Gods.