Taika Waititi Confirms He’s Keen For Valkyrie To Be “Explicitly Queer” In ‘Thor’ 4

valkyrie LGBTQI thor

Taika Waititi has confirmed that he’d be supportive of Valkyrie being “explicitly queer” in the upcoming Thor: Love and Thunder film, which is a huge win for queer representation in film.

After a huge week of Oscars buzz, Waititi sat down with Variety to discuss his work with Marvel, among other things.

Variety asked the Oscar-winning director if he’d be open to the possibility of Valkyrie (played by Tessa Thompson) being portrayed as “explicitly queer” in the upcoming film, to which Waititi confirmed he’d be open to it.

“I think so,” Taika told the publication. “The IP (intellectual property) 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.”

In case you missed it, Tessa Thompson has been a huge advocate for queer representation in the film, taking to Twitter as early as 2017 to discuss her character’s bisexuality.

https://twitter.com/TessaThompson_x/status/921876958673113088?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E921876958673113088&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2F

The concept of a queer Valkyrie was also discussed at San Diego Comic-Con last year, when Thompson discussed that she needed to “find her queen” in the new film.

“I think first of all as king, as new king, she needs to find her queen. That’ll be her first order of business. She has some ideas. Keep you posted,” she said.

Kevin Feige, Marvel Studios’ president, also confirmed to iO9 that there will be an LGBTQI storyline in Thor: Love and Thunder involving Valkyrie. However, it is unclear how this will impact the storyline of the Thor franchise and the greater Marvel Cinematic Universe.

An LGBTQI storyline nearly made the cut in the 2017 film Thor Ragnarokbut was cut before the final edit made it to cinemas.

So there you have it, Taika Waititi, Tessa Thompson and Kevin Feige are all keen on incorporating an LGBTQI storyline into the fourth Thor film.

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