Now that ‘Scarlet Witch and Vision’ has opened the doors of Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), speculation about the future of the franchise is our bread and butter. Especially, a question flies over the ‘fandom’: who will be the next great villain in the Marvel world? Who will the new Avengers have to face, including Captain Marvel, Falcon, Spider-Man, Thor and Doctor Strange, among others?
One of the great candidates is Kang the Conqueror, whose appearance has already been confirmed for the third Ant-Man film, ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, where he will be played by Jonathan Majors (‘Lovecraft Country’). His role as the great antagonist of the Avengers in the comics, as well as his constant flirtations with time travel and the multiverse, seem to position him as the natural successor of Thanos, who left his mark on the diptych ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ and ‘Avengers: Endgame’.
However, another candidate could take the lead. This is Gorr, who we will see in ‘ Thor: Love and Thunder ‘ played by Christian Bale, who, according to some leaks, could have a recurring role in the MCU. After all, why would the MCU let a hitman like Bale escape? This leads us to think that his role as the villain in the Taika Waititi- the directed film might not be a movie ‘affair’, but the beginning of a larger narrative for the character.
Although he is not the only candidate, what makes him closer to Thanos than other potential villains is how his story can humanize him and give him a personality beyond that of a ‘villain on duty’. Gorr, who first appeared in the comics as Thor’s antagonist in 2012, belonged to a desert alien planet where resources were scarce and people lived in dire poverty. When his family dies, Gorr blames the gods who denied his help and decides to hunt them down one by one using a weapon stolen from the god Knull known as All-Black Necrosword and that fans already describe it as a more powerful weapon than the Infinity Gauntlet itself.
A theory that is being shuffled among fans about how Gorr could enter history is through Hela: instead of showing Knull, Thor’s sister goddess would be the one who, upon his death, would allow him to take the almighty sword that showed in ‘Thor: Ragnarok’. Thus, the entire fabric of history would be coherently united, although at the moment they are nothing more than assumptions. We will have to wait until next May 6, 2022, to find out, in a film that has confirmed not only the return of Chris Hemsworth as Thor and Natalie Portman as Jane Foster, but also the appearance of Chris Pratt as Star-Lord and, for some right, Matt Damon.
