The origin story for LGBTQ superheroes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been a long one, and it’s finally coming to a close.
During the Marvel panel at San Diego Comic-Con on Saturday, Tessa Thompson was asked what her character, Valkyrie, would be up to as the new king of Asgard in the upcoming fourth Thor movie, Love And Thunder.
Her answer: “I think first of all as king, as new king, she needs to find her queen. That’ll be her first order of business. She has some ideas. Keep you posted.”
The comment seemed to hint Valkyrie would be involved in an LGBTQ storyline in Thor 4, and after the panel, Marvel head Kevin Feige confirmed it.
He told iO9, “The answer is yes... how that impacts the story remains to be seen with that level of representation you’ll see across our films, not in just Thor 4.”
Tessa Thompson has been open about her character being bisexual in the Marvel movies, as she is in the comics, so the reveal isn’t out of the blue.
However, her bisexuality hasn’t been explicitly addressed in the movies thus far, and a scene in Thor: Ragnarok showing she had a female lover didn’t end up making the final cut.
In addition to Valkyrie, more queer characters are said to be on the way for Marvel, with reports that the upcoming movie The Eternals, which opens before Thor: Love and Thunder, had a casting call for a gay hero.
This news from Marvel seems to make good on Kevin Feige’s previous comments claiming that future LGBTQ characters would be “both ones you’ve seen and ones you haven’t seen” ― though it doesn’t seem there will be unexpected revelations made about other current Avengers.
Speaking with HuffPost in May, Avengers: Endgame writer Stephen McFeely said more LGBTQ representation would “undoubtedly” be added, but he didn’t believe a character’s past would be retconned.
“It’ll more likely be part of the rollout of the character and it’ll just be an accepted part of that character’s backstory,” Stephen said.
The first openly LGBTQ character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe was technically director Joe Russo’s short cameo as a gay man grieving his missing partner in Avengers: Endgame.
Now, with Thompson’s and Feige’s comments, Valkyrie becomes the first confirmed LGBTQ superhero in the MCU.
Long may she reign.
