Tessa Thompson Is Marvel Studios' First Queer Superhero
Tessa Thompson’s Valkyrie character is set to be the Marvel Cinematic Universe&aposs first openly LGBTQ superhero and will appear in the upcoming film, Thor: Love and Thunder. Tessa teased the announcement in San Diego at this weekend’s Comic-Con, where the clip of her hinting at her character’s future romantic storyline created a Twitter commotion.
“As new king, she needs to find her queen,” said Tessa during the Thor panel presentation. “That will be her first order of business.”
Kevin Feige, head of Marvel Studios, confirmed the news that fans should expect an openly queer relationship in the upcoming film. "The answer is yes,” said Feige of Valkyrie’s upcoming romantic 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."
The announcement signifies a long-overdue shift for LGBTQ representation in the male-dominated cishet Marvel Cinematic Universe. The character of Valkyrie is openly queer in the original Thor comics, a fact that helps assure the storyline&aposs inclusion has genuine intentions rather than queer baiting a new audience for the franchise.
The news is all the more significant because Tessa is also openly bisexual, so the film will have a queer actor playing a queer role — and we can&apost wait to see Tessa own it.
Editor&aposs note: This story has been updated.
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Originally Appeared on Teen Vogue
