Tessa Thompson’s Valkyrie Becomes Marvel’s First LGBTQ+ Superhero
Afro-Latina actress Tessa Thompson has been pretty open about her sexuality
Photo: Instagram/tessamaethompson
Afro-Latina actress Tessa Thompson has been pretty open about her sexuality. Last year she came out as bisexual and set the rumors straight about her relationship with Janelle Monáe. Now, in Marvel’s Thor: Love and Thunder, her character Valkyrie will become the first openly bisexual superhero. It’s about time we had an LGBTQ+ superhero!
While there’s been a serious lack of representation of LGBTQ superheroes in film adaptations of comics –– Thompson’s Valkyrie is definitely a step in the right direction. At San Diego’s Comic-Con on Saturday, Thompson alluded to the news after being asked what her character will be up to in the film.
“I think first of all, as king, she needs to find her queen. That’ll be her first order of business. She has some ideas. Keep you posted,” she said. Following the panel, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige confirmed that Valkyrie will be the first openly LGBTQ+ character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Tessa Thompson on Valkyrie: “First of all, as king, she needs to find her queen.” #MarvelSDCC pic.twitter.com/XR1I2wsUNR
— Ryan Gajewski (@_RyanGajewski) July 21, 2019
“The answer is yes,” Feige told Gizmodo. “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.”
Valkyrie has been in the Marvel Comics since 1970. The character was created based on the Norse mythological figure Brynhildr and first appeared in The Avengers #83. She was also originally a close ally, as well as a love interest of Thor’s, which will not be the case in Thor: Love and Thunder.
Although Thompson has been open about her character’s bisexuality in the past, it wasn’t explicitly portrayed in the previous film Thor: Ragnarok. In fact, her one scene with a female lover wound up being cut.
“She’s bi. And yes, she cares very little about what men think of her. What a joy to play!” Thompson tweeted back in 2017.
She’s bi. And yes, she cares very little about what men think of her. What a joy to play! https://t.co/d0LZKTHCfL
— Tessa Thompson (@TessaThompson_x) October 21, 2017
But it shouldn’t end here. We’re expecting Marvel to make it a point to include other LGBTQ+ characters in their films and it looks like that’s already in the works. Reports claim that the upcoming film The Eternals had a casting for a gay hero.
Representation is definitely key and it’s important that kids and young adults see themselves reflected in the films they watch whether it’s seeing other people of color, people of various body types and sizes, and people of various sexual orientations. The days of only seeing white heterosexual male superheroes are on its way to being long gone — or so we hope.
