WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Loki Episode 3, "Lamentis," streaming now on Disney+.
Loki director Kate Herron explained the importance of acknowledging the God of Mischief's sexuality on the series.
After years of fan speculation on the subject, the show's third episode, "Lamentis," confirmed Loki is queer in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This reveal comes in a conversation between Tom Hiddleston's God of Mischief and Sophia Di Martino's character, a variant of Loki from another timeline who prefers to go by Sylvie and presents herself as a woman. Over the course of their discussion, Loki admits he had dalliances with both princes and princesses in the past.
Once the episode was live, Herron took to Twitter to discuss how meaningful this was to her, not only as a storyteller but on a personal level, writing, "From the moment I joined [the Loki show] it was very important to me, and my goal, to acknowledge Loki was bisexual. It is a part of who he is and who I am too. I know this is a small step but I’m happy, and heart is so full, to say that this is now Canon in [the MCU]." To highlighter her point, Herron posted screenshots from the scene in question.
Leading up to Loki, the MCU offered little representation for the LGBTQIA+ community. A scene confirming Valkyrie is queer was cut from 2017's Thor: Ragnarok while co-director Joe Russo briefly portrayed an unnamed grieving gay man in 2019's Avengers: Endgame. Marvel Television's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. similarly included a couple of queer supporting characters, whereas Runaways featured the gay superhero Karolina Dean. However, it's unclear if Marvel Studios considers those pre-Phase 4 series MCU canon following the restructuring of its movie and TV divisions in 2019.
The Loki series also marks the MCU's first time exploring gender fluidity with its Sylvie reveal. Herron confirmed the God of Mischief's gender-fluid status would be acknowledged on the series ahead of its premiere, noting, "He's gender fluid in the Norse mythology and the comics and it felt like an important thing to, as you say, make sure it's canon."
Loki stars Tom Hiddleston, Owen Wilson, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Wunmi Mosaku, Sophia Di Martino, Richard E. Grant, Sasha Lane, and Eugene Cordero. New episodes air Wednesdays on Disney+.
Source: Twitter
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