Anything can (and does) happen at San Diego Comic Con, and fandoms from all over the world flock to Twitter for news of the greatest reveals of the year which are invariably made at Comic Con. Despite the currently pessimistic tone of the Marvel universe currently, Comic Con did not disappoint this year. It unleashed a new wave of hope in the MCU with talk of diversity, inclusion, and expansion.
After the reveal of Thor 4: Love and Thunder, Tessa Thompson, who plays Valkyrie, was asked what her character would be doing as the new king of Asgard. The reply would send excited chills down any Marvel fan’s back. “As new king, she needs to find her queen,” says Thompson, confirming her character’s long-suspected queerness.
Thompson has confirmed Valkyrie’s bisexuality on Twitter, complying with Valkyrie’s sexual orientation in the comics. However, it never truly felt like a reality until Marvel head Kevin Feige confirmed Thompson’s groundbreaking words.
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Feige also spoke about his hope to expand this diversity and inclusion across all Marvel films outside of Valkyrie’s storyline. Another movie announced at last weekend’s con, The Eternals, also calls for a gay superhero.
With the actual first LGBTQ+ Marvel character being director Joe Russo’s cameo in Avengers: Endgame, the future of Marvel promises saturation of queerness across all platforms and we couldn’t be happier.