You don't become an entertainment giant without going against the grain, and revolutionizing the way things are done. With Marvel's latest, Spiderman: Far From Home making headlines for including an openly trans man as part of the cast for the first time in its history, they're now introducing their very first LGBTQ superhero. Marvel is set to make the new leader of Thor's fictional home, New Asgard, Valkyrie, their first non-heterosexual hero, as was hinted at by the movie's star, Tessa Thompson, shortly before it was confirmed by the studio's president, Kevin Feige, during Marvel's Saturday panel at San Diego's Comic-Con.
“First of all, as king, she needs to find her queen,” Thompson commented to the audience. “That will be her first order of business. She has some ideas. Keep you posted.” For those who didn't catch the star's vague reveal, Feige later confirmed what Thompson had been hinting at. “The answer is yes,” Feige said on the matter of including an LBTQ element within Valkyrie's 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.” In an interview with Rolling Stone back in October of 2017, Thompson briefly touched upon Valkyrie's sexuality, revealing that director Taika Waititi initially pitched her character as being bisexual - as she appears in the comics - when she made her debut in Thor: Ragnarok. Thor: Love and Thunder will hit theatres on November 5th, 2021, and will see the return of the film's protagonist, played once more by the beloved Chris Hemsworth, as well as Natalie Portman as the new female Thor.