Picture from Marvel Studios
It seems fans looking for some queer relationships being represented on the big screen of any Marvel movie are going to have to wait just a little bit longer. As the coronavirus pandemic sends the entire world into a global lockdown, production of beloved television series and long expected movies are being put on hold and their release dates pushed back.
Recently Marvel has pushed back the filming of the long anticipated marvel film, Thor: Love and Thunder. According to Tessa Thompson, known for her roles as Valkyrie in Thor: Ragnorak and Charlotte Hale in HBO’s Westworld, Thor: Love and Thunder will explore Valkyrie’s new role as queen over the Asgardians living on Earth and as she finds her “queen.”
In interviews with actress Thompson, she has stated, according to Collider, “like in recent comics, her version of Valkyrie is bisexual.” And although it wasn’t officially in the script, in another interview with Rolling Stone, Thompson confirmed she had filmed a scene confirming Valkyrie’s bisexuality, but the scene was ultimately cut because it “distracted from the scene’s vital exposition.”
According to Thompson, director Taika Waititi kept the scene in for as long as he could. I don’t doubt it was cut in fear of loss of profit, as is the case in Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker’s screenings in China where they edited out a scene of two women kissing in the background. So much for Disney making a stand.
Waititi has noted his views of Thompson’s take on his character, stating, “The IP is not mine. But with the actors, I feel whatever makes them comfortable – whether they feel like there’s a natural choice, or a natural way for that character to go – then I’m pretty supportive. If Tessa wanted to do that, I’m in.”
Although fans have been skeptical in the past of Disney’s agenda to represent a diverse group of characters, and rightfully so, with an actual bisexual woman pushing proper representation of her demographic and a director as open minded and eccentric as Waititi, I have no doubt that this might just be the film Disney gets it right.
According to PinkNews, Marvel boss Kevin Feige has also confirmed that Valkyrie will be visibly queer in the film, saying, “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.”
We can only hope he’s alluding to the eventual portrayal of Marvel’s most famous queer couple, Billy Kaplan and Teddy Altman.