Thor: Love and Thunder director Taika Waititi makes huge claim about Christian Bale’s villain

Taika Waititi is hyping up Christian Bale’s performance in Thor: Love and Thunder in a big way.

The director has returned to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) for the follow-up to 2017 film Thor: Ragnarok, which will bring back Chris Hemsworth’s superhero, Natalie Portman’s Jane and the Guardians of the Galaxy for one big adventure.

Bale will be on villain duties, for his first comic book film since he played Batman in Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy.

In Love and Thunder, he plays Gorr the God Butcher and, according to Waititi’s “humble opinion”, the actor is “probably the best villain that Marvel’s ever had”.

Waititi also told AP News that he sees Thor in this film as going through “a midlife crisis”.

In the comics, Gorr the God Butcher is virtually immortal, and can create sharp tendrils that can kill any god, including Asgardians, which is where Thor hails from.

Thor: Love and Thunder will be released in cinemas on 8 July. The latest Marvel film, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, is out now in the UK and will be released in the US on Friday (6 May).

Find our verdict on the new release here.