I Still Can’t Get Over How Much The MCU Wasted One Truly Perfect Villain Casting Despite Them Being The Star Of Another $2B Superhero Movie Series

Three years after the MCU introduced a truly perfect villain casting into the Marvel movie world, I"m still surprised at how much the character ended up being wasted. The MCU timeline is rife with effective and engaging villains - giving iconic characters like Thanos some of their most well-known depictions, and giving some lesser-known figures like the High Evolutionary and Baron Zemo a chance to show their unique appeal as antagonists. That said, there is a flip side of the coin too, and while the MCU"s best villains define the franchise in a major way, the universe isn"t without mishandled figures.
While many of the MCU"s most mishandled villains are those who are less beloved in the comics, some major figures have gotten this mistreatment too - with Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania"s MODOK being the most recent in the list of antagonists whose on-screen adaptations proved controversial to say the least. However, one of the most striking examples in this roster is notable not just because of the character in question, but also because the actor chosen for the role was a flawless choice, and one who had already played a major role in netting another superhero franchise over $2 billion.
Christian Bale's Movie Run As Batman Shows Just How Perfect He Is In The Superhero Genre Close When looking at the overall landscape of the superhero genre and the movies and shows that have best defined it, the importance of The Dark Knight trilogy cannot be overstated. As the first Batman movie reboot after the original series - and the first live-action Batman movie to fully delve into the DC hero"s origin story - The Dark Knight trilogy was set up to be a crucial part of the Caped Crusader"s on-screen history however it fared.
As such, it helps it did immensely well, with the franchise"s over $2 billion box office earnings - as per The Numbers - fueled by Christopher Nolan and his team putting incredible effort into each aspect of the gritty movie franchise. This financial result was met with equal critical praise, as The Dark Knight"s depiction of both its hero and the larger lore of Gotham is still regarded as one of the best big-screen takes on the mythos to this day.
As the person playing Bruce Wayne and his vigilante alter ego, Christian Bale"s own significance in the series is similarly crucial, since the gravitas and emotional weight Bale"s performance adds to the character and his arc over the course of the movies is a huge part of what makes the story feel both so nuanced and so real, despite the larger-than-life events that take place throughout. With this backdrop, the promise of Christian Bale playing the emotionally complex Marvel villain Gorr for the MCU seemed a perfect match - but things weren"t quite that straightforward.
Christian Bale's MCU Gorr Story Is Even More Painful Knowing How Successful The Dark Knight Trilogy Was Close Gorr"s story can be seen to mirror that of The Dark Knight"s Batman to a degree, as a character who has their fundamental beliefs challenged and who tries to rise to the task in order to bring about change to the world - though where Batman seeks to protect and better Gotham, Gorr seeks a more blood-soaked kind of change. Given the parallels between the two - and the immense critical and financial success of Bale"s prior superhero role - it"s all the more painful to see that what could have been one of the strongest new villain stories in the MCU be instead a footnote in the annals of the franchise"s history.
Part of this is down to Gorr"s overall screen-time. While Bale still arguably pulls off both Gorr"s torment and grief, the story of Thor: Love & Thunder doesn"t give the villain full time to define the character and show the results of Gorr"s thirst for retribution, with the character stuck intimidating children rather than being shown actively striking down gods and demonstrating his imposing presence to the audience.
While missing out on the promise of Gorr"s unique and compelling brand of menace is a shame as it is, it"s doubly potent in this specific scenario since we have the context of Bale"s time as DC"s biggest hero to go off also. Knowing how well Bale"s Batman was able to intimidate his opposition, it"s a given that, had Thor: Love & Thunder been able to unleash a more comic-accurate and more genuinely frightening Gorr, the actor"s prior experience in this type of role would"ve ensured the MCU"s iteration nailed it, making the more underwhelming take on his story notable.
How The MCU Could Still Redeem Gorr's Story Close Gorr"s story in the MCU isn"t entirely and altogether concluded in the MCU despite the villain"s own death, since the revival of his daughter, Love - and Thor"s decision to adopt her - in the Thor: Love & Thunder ending continues his story in a sense. While it would be the most challenging way to do so, it"s still possible Gorr"s story could be redeemed through the franchise"s exploration of Love as a character in the future.
It"s been theorized that Love could become a member of the Young Avengers following its more recent MCU setup, which could ensure the character had a consistent and focal storyline in the MCU for some time to come.
Since it seems Love becomes Thor"s sidekick of sorts as per the end of the fourth Thor movie, it"d be possible for her arc to enhance Gorr"s retrospectively in some ways - or at least for the association to Love"s story to make the release"s overall changes to Gorr have something more of a silver lining, since these alterations were what made the creation of the MCU-exclusive Love possible in the first place. That said, this isn"t the only possible way for the MCU to retroactively adjust things.
On the other side of things, the Multiverse Saga does offer another possible route in terms of redeeming Gorr"s story. However, this also presents its own share of challenges, as it"s unlikely a major multiverse movie like Avengers: Doomsday or Avengers: Secret Wars will be able to spare the time to give any more sort of dedicated look at Gorr, with a potential glimpse of a more comic-accurate Gorr being the only thing if anything we"re likely to get on that front.
That said, Avengers: Secret Wars does hold a different type of potential for this kind of story as well. If the rumored Avengers 6 reboot does end up coming to fruition, the MCU may have opened up a new chance for the franchise to reuse and redeem characters who didn"t get their full dues the first time around, which could allow for a second shot at Gorr"s story. As it stands, though, the future is unclear in this regard for the time being - but with both Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans making their returns in the franchise shortly, nothing seems strictly impossible.
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Marvel Cinematic Universe The Marvel Cinematic Universe is a multimedia superhero franchise that began in 2008 with Paramount's Iron Man starring Robert Downey Jr. The franchise quickly grew in popularity, with Disney eventually buying out Marvel Entertainment in 2009. The MCU consists of dozens of movies and TV shows, most notably Avengers: Endgame, WandaVision, and Loki.
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