It’s no secret that fans weren’t happy with how Thor: Love and Thunder turned out. Taika Waititi’s comedic imbalance left us with a film that felt too concerned with telling jokes rather than a good story. But it turns out we could have gotten a much darker version of the film.
In an interview with Inverse last year, Christian Bale, who plays the film’s antagonist, Gorr the God Butcher, discussed his scenes on set and how many were unfortunately tossed onto the cutting room floor. Bale was allowed to improvise and admits that he took it “a little too far” in some scenes. While he knew a lot of material would be cut to keep things family-friendly, it’s still a shame that audiences weren’t treated to a more terrifying version of Gorr.
[…] Chris Hemsworth, a couple of times he looked at me it was like, Dude, that’s a little too far. I don’t think anyone’s gonna want to see that unless it’s an R-rated film. but it was a great joy to give it a shot.
At the time, the news did not go down well with many Marvel fans, who clearly would have loved to have seen a darker tone to the film. Even now, nine months after the film was released, folks still feel the need to vent their frustrations.
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by u/goboxey from discussion Christian Bale filmed “R-rated” deleted scenes for ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’
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While Marvel would likely have never released an R-rated version of the film, it would have been better had it been a bit more serious. Many fans are calling for a “Bale cut” despite its unlikelihood.
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by u/Magmasoar from discussion Christian Bale filmed “R-rated” deleted scenes for ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’
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There was a lot of speculation in the Marvel Studios subreddit over what could have been so bad that even Chris Hemsworth was taken aback, with some wondering if we would have seen more excplicit violence, particularly how Gorr got the scars on his face.
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by u/DemoBytom from discussion Christian Bale filmed “R-rated” deleted scenes for ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’
in marvelstudios
The fact that large portions of Love and Thunder were cut before release has been known for a while. It was originally a four-hour ordeal, and Bale himself has said that he wishes fans could see it. His interview gives us a hint about the nature of the deleted scenes and, while they sound promising on paper, it’s worth noting that cuts are made for a reason.
Maybe one day the scrapped material will pop up somewhere on the internet, but leaks of such a nature rarely escape the depths of Marvel HQ, so don’t hold your breath.