We recently learned, rather surprisingly, that Christian Bale is wanted for a role in Thor 4. There is no word currently on who the Oscar-winning star would play, should his casting become official, but the internet had some ideas. Namely, they want to see him play Beta Ray Bill. So much so that the relatively obscure Marvel character began trending on Twitter following the news of Bale's possible casting.

For those who may not be familiar, Beta Ray Bill is a character who first appeared in the pages of Marvel Comics in The Mighty Thor #377 back in 1983. The book famously features the cult-favorite alien figure on the cover. He was creatic by comics legend Walter Simonson. Beta Ray Bill is the cyborg champion of the Korbinites who helped protect his people from a demon attack. Upon his first encounter with Thor, he was proven worthy of wielding the mighty hammer Mjolnir, making him the first non-Nose figure to do so. Odin then gave Bill the powers of Thor and made him a powerful hammer of his own, Stormbreaker.

While Beta Ray Bill is far from what one might call a traditionally popular character, and there is no guarantee we'll see him in Thor: Love and Thunder, he certainly has a following. Seemingly because Christian Bale is such a prestigious actor, and Bill is such a strange character, people on Twitter ran with the idea of him taking on that role in particular. Some made jokes about Bale pulling another one of his impressive physical transformations, while others just shouted at Marvel to make it happen. Film critic Declan Mckinney put it this way on Twitter, for example.

"Christian Bale can do absolutely anything, therefore he can play a horse faced man. Cast this man as Beta Ray Bill!"

It seems unlikely that this will come to pass. Then again, Taika Waititi is returning to direct and he made a lot of unexpected things happen in Thor: Ragnarok. So who knows? After all, this movie is already going to turn Natalie Portman's Jane Foster into the new Thor. Why not also bring Beta Ray Bill into the fold and have him played by a well-respected star like Christian Bale, if they can make it happen?

Earlier today, acclaimed Thor comic book writer Jason Aaron suggested that Christian Bale might be most suited to playing CEO of Roxxon Energy Corp Dario Agger, who has the ability to turn into a legendary Minotaur. The character in human form has been compared to Patrick Bateman, the maniac killer Christian Bale played in American Psycho. Some believe that Bale may be better suited for this role. While there are a number of MCU fans who don't really want to see Christian Bale brought into the Marvel Cinematic Universe at all.

Plot details are currently being kept under wraps. We know Chris Hemsworth will be back as the God of Thunder, as will Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie. Production is expected to begin in August. We'll be sure to keep you posted as any further details are made available. Thor: Love and Thunder is set to hit theaters on November 5, 2021. Be sure to check out some of the Beta Ray Bill posts from Twitter for yourself.