As part of its post-Avengers: Endgame rollout, Marvel is set to make the new leader of New Asgard, Valkyrie, its first LGBTQ superhero. This decision was first teased by Tessa Thompson, shortly before it was confirmed by the studio's president, Kevin Feige. Both the tease and confirmation came during Marvel's Saturday panel at San Diego's Comic-Con.
“First of all, as king, she needs to find her queen,” Thompson said to those in attendance. “That will be her first order of business. She has some ideas. Keep you posted.” Thompson was referring to the next step her character was set to take when the fourth movie in the Thor series, Thor: Love and Thunder, eventually hits theaters in 2021.
While Thompson's comments were a tad vague, the aforementioned Feige later confirmed what Thompson had clearly hinted at. “The answer is yes,” Feige said on the subject of Valkyrie having an LGBTQ storyline. “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.” Feige made his comments to io9.
Thompson previously touched on Valkyrie's sexuality in an October 2017 Rolling Stone interview. At the time, Thompson revealed that director Taika Waititi pitched her character as being bisexual, as she is in the comics, when she made her on-screen debut in Thor: Ragnarok.
Waititi is on board to both write and direct the next film in the series.
Thor: Love and Thunder will also see the return of the film's titular character, again played by Chris Hemsworth, and will also see Natalie Portman rejoin the series in the role of female Thor. While you'll surely need another reminder at some point between then and now, Thor: Love and Thunder is scheduled to hit theaters on November 5, 2021.
