What Only Hardcore Marvel Fans Know About Gorr's Necrosword In Thor: Love And Thunder
Contains spoilers for "Thor: Love and Thunder"
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is packed with iconic weapons and costumes used by the countless heroes and villains across the multiverse, and it is committed to expanding that armory in "Thor: Love and Thunder." In the sequel from "Thor: Ragnarok" director Taika Waititi, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) heads off on a quest to rediscover himself after the events of "Avengers: Endgame," and he winds up crossing paths with Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale) in the process.
In late June, the former Batman actor told Total Film he was concerned about Gorr's minimal costume in the comics, as he wears a cloak and a black cloth around his waist. "I thought, 'They don't have the right man for that!' And then Taika quickly dispelled any notions of running around in that." Bale added, "But I always did think what he could do with this in front of a bluescreen — he could chuck on whatever he wants later on." Thankfully, the live-action version of Gorr is a little more covered up, and the film does give the villain his iconic weapon: the Necrosword.
Gorr uses the jet-black weapon with a devastating fury in the highly anticipated sequel, especially in a brutal fight with Thor, Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), and Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson) in the Necroverse. But the origins of the Necrosword in the MCU are just as murky as the blade itself. The object has a fascinating history in the comics — and it could mean that a huge villain is somewhere on the horizon.
The Necrosword belonged to Knull
As far as the MCU is concerned, "Thor: Love and Thunder" never actually confirms who the Necrosword belongs to before Gorr gains control of it. Instead, Thor explains it's been passed down since the dawn of time, and it corrupts anyone who uses it, infecting them with darkness until they die. When Gorr first gets his hands on it, it's next to a dead knight wearing a bulky set of black armor who's clearly succumbed to its influence.
In Marvel Comics, Gorr's Necrosword belongs to Knull the Symbiote God before the "Thor" villain gets his claws on it. In Donny Cates' "Venom" #4, the villain recounts his origin to Eddie Brock, explaining that millions of years in the past, he lived alone in a void that quickly becomes the battleground for a Celestial war. Anyway, because they invade Knull's empty kingdom, he conjures a sword out of the void and beheads a Celestial before turning its severed head into a forge, where he makes Necrosword a permanent weapon. Essentially, it's a blade of living darkness that also traps the soul of anything it kills inside it.
Because Knull is a key part of the Venom mythology, it seems likely that Sony has the rights to use Knull however it sees fit, even though the studio bought the rights to Spider-Man and his related characters a number of years before the villain debuted in the comics. As such, this is probably why co-writers Taika Waititi and Jennifer Kaytin Robinson use an ambiguous figure rather than acknowledging the Knull of it all. It's unclear if the two studios could (or would) strike a deal for Knull to appear in the MCU, but it seems far more likely that he'd show up in a future "Venom" film with Tom Hardy's symbiotic antihero first.
The Necrosword is the first symbiote
It's also worth pointing out that the Necrosword is also called the All-Black, and it's actually the very first Symbiote. Yes, the sword is technically alive. What's interesting is that it also cloaks Knull in a set of black armor with a red insignia on the front (not too dissimilar from Venom's symbol), which gives the immortal villain a terrifying look. So the dead knight in the "Thor: Love and Thunder" opening is clearly a nod to the Necrosword's origins, without getting into the messy implications of Knull himself being in the MCU. Gorr briefly meets Knull in "Thor: God of Thunder" #6, where the villain reveals his origin to an imprisoned Volstagg (Ray Stevenson).
The issue explains that Gorr is exiled from his tribe for his rage against the gods, and shortly after he stumbles on an armored Knull fighting a golden god in the desert — although their fight has ended in a stalemate because they've impaled each other. All-Black quickly jumps into Gorr's hand as a dagger, and he uses it to kill the golden god in revenge for the deaths of his mother, his wife, and his daughter over the years. That's not too far from the film's opening, where Gorr stumbles into Rapu's (Johnny Brugh) realm and uses the discarded weapon to kill his former idol.
The Necrosword's symbiote abilities are a huge part of the film too, as Gorr brings monstrous Black Berserkers out of the abyss inside the Necrosword to plague the Asgardians and steal the children of New Asgard. When the villain kills several gods in "Thor: God of Thunder" #1 and #3, he leaves a few Berserkers behind as sentries to slaughter anyone investigating their deaths. Taika Waititi clearly did his homework.