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SDCC: Valkyrie Confirmed as MCU’s First Queer Superhero

July 21, 2019 | Posted by Jeremy Thomas
Valkyrie Tessa Thompson Thor Ragnarok Image Credit: Marvel Studios

It’s official: Tessa Thompson’s Valkyrie is the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s first queer superhero. Thompson, who was on stage at Marvel’s Hall H panel at San Diego Comic-Con, turned a lot of heads when she discussed her role in the upcoming Thor: Love & Thunder and said “As new king [of Asgard as revealed in Avengers: Endgame], she needs to find her queen. That will be her first order of business.” And Kevin Feige confirmed to io9 that Valkyrie will have such a storyline.

“The answer is yes,” Feige said. “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.”

Thompson has been vocal about Valkyrie’s sexuality, having stated back in 2017 that the character was bisexual in accordance with the comic book source and had a scene shot for Thor: Ragnarok where a woman was seen walking out of her bedroom, though that had to be cut for pacing. Marvel included its first explicitly gay character into the MCU films with this year’s Avengers: Endgame, which features brief appearance by a gay man in a Captain America-led support group. (The Marvel television shows have featured far more LGBTQ characters such as Runaways’ Karolina and Nico who are lesbian and bisexual, and Gillian in Jessica Jones season three who is a trans woman.)

Thor: Love & Thunder is set to release on November 5th, 2021 and will star Natalie Portman as Jane Foster taking up the mantle of Thor, Thompson and Chris Hemsworth as the original Odinson.