Venom’s brief appearance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe could have unintended consequences. Tom Hardy only got a few moments of screentime in the post-credits scene from Spider-Man: No Way Home, but new leaks for the upcoming Thor: Love and Thunder suggest his character could have an unexpected impact on the MCU at large.
Warning: Potential spoilers ahead for Thor: Love and Thunder.
Thor 4 leaks: Gorr edition
There’s been no shortage of leaks depicting the Love and Thunder villain, Gorr the God Butcher, played by Christian Bale in the new Marvel movie. We’ve seen photos of Bale covered in pale white makeup on set, along with pictures of his action figure — though the character was notably absent from the first official Thor 4 trailer.
However, a newly leaked bit of alleged promo art for Thor: Love and Thunder may offer up our best look yet at Gorr, and you may notice something... interesting.
Gorr himself still looks kind of... meh, but we can’t help but focus on the black tentacles emanating from behind his back and attacking the movie’s two Thors. If you think those tentacles look familiar, well, you’re not wrong. Love and Thunder seems to be taking some inspiration from Venom, and the reason why has deep roots in comic book canon.
Thor 4 and Venom
Marvel hasn’t revealed much about Gorr’s whole deal in Thor: Love and Thunder so far. Based on his full name, we know he likes to murder gods (watch out, Odinson), but beyond that, he’s a mystery.
In the comics, Gorr’s origins are also relatively mysterious, but we do know a good deal more about him. For one thing, he’s an alien (a detail we assume will carry over into the MCU, but who knows). More importantly, we know a lot about his weapon of choice: All-Black the Necrosword.
All-Black is a weapon with a long-enough backstory to merit its own lengthy Wiki page. Its origins are weird and complicated, but the long and short of it is that All-Black is the original symbiote (aka, the race of aliens that includes Venom among their ranks).
It’s possible Thor: Love and Thunder will follow this same origin story, in which case we may not get a direct mention of Venom at all. But it’s just as possible the MCU will do what it does best and remix that story to suit its cinematic tapestry.
What if the symbiote goop left behind by Venom at the end of Spider-Man: No Way Home somehow found its way to Gorr, giving him the powers he needs to take down Thor? If that’s the case, Love and Thunder could be introducing symbiotes to the MCU in a very unexpected way.
And we can only assume that wherever symbiotes appear, Venom himself won’t be far behind.
Thor: Love and Thunder slithers into theaters on July 8, 2022.
