Valkyrie, Korg and other queer Marvel characters that have been straight-washed on screen

Considering the Marvel Cinematic Universe is now made up of 19 movies, you’d think that at least ONE of them would have featured a queer character by now.

Alas, Disney and Marvel Studios has made sure that every hero – and villain for that matter – is either straight or devoid of a love life altogether.

The juggernaut production companies even do it with characters that are canonically LGBT within the comics. Here’s a lowdown on the figures that have been straight-washed on the big screen…

Valkyrie

In the comic books, Asgardian warrior Valkyrie has a romantic relationship with anthropologist Annabelle Riggs and is bisexual.

So when it was announced that she would be appearing in Marvel outing Thor: Ragnarok, LGBT fans were curious – and hopeful – as to whether her sexuality would be addressed in the film.

According to a Rolling Stone profile (via Screen Crush), actor Tessa Thompson was keen to showcase that side of her character.

She pitched the idea of making it explicit to the film’s director, Taika Waititi, after she researched Valkyrie and saw a “great illustration of them in a kiss.”

They shot a scene that glimpsed a woman walking out of Valkyrie’s bedroom. Sadly though, the scene didn’t make the film’s final edit leaving casual fans who don’t delve into Valkyrie’s history online or in the comics with no idea about her sexuality.

Hopefully we’ll see more of Valkyrie in future Marvel movies and her queerness will become more apparent that it is now. In the meantime, we can be safe in the knowledge that Thompson played her as bisexual, even if the film didn’t show it.

“There were things that we talked about that we allowed to exist in the characterization, but maybe not be explicit in the film,” the Creed actor told Rolling Stone. “There’s a great shot of me falling back from one of my sisters who’s just been slain,” says Thompson. “In my mind, that was my lover.”

Loki 

On paper, he might be the God of Mischief but when it comes to the fans, some might also describe Loki as the God of Mystery in regards to his sexuality.

In the comics, Loki has been predominantly linked to women when it comes to romance since his introduction in 1962 but more recently, writers have attempted to make the trickster freer when it comes to love – and gender, for that matter.

Back in 2014, comic writer, Al Ewing wrote on his blog that he’d be “touching on” Loki’s bisexuality in Loki: Agent of Asgard. It never really came to fruition though and it was widely speculated that it was Marvel that nipped the ideas in the bud.

Similarly, in 2017, writer Mackenzi Lee announced on Twitter that she was looking to write Loki as “canonically pansexual and gender fluid” in Marvel’s upcoming three-book historical fiction series.

Interestingly, actor Tom Hiddleston has also stated that he sees the character as bisexual. It’s just a shame that the films haven’t capitalised on the queer, cult following that Loki has and done something groundbreaking within the MCU.

Okoye and Ayo

• Nov 29

56 celebrities you didn’t know are gay, bisexual or lesbian