In case you needed another reason to stan Tessa Thompson, the out actress has confirmed that she’ll play the first openly LGBTQ superhero in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Speaking on a panel at San Diego Comic-Con last Saturday, July 20, Thompson—who portrayed Valkyrie in 2017’s Thor: Ragnarok and this April’s Avengers: Endgame—discussed reprising her role in Marvel’s fourth Thor film: Thor: Love and Thunder, due out in 2021.
When an attendee asked what Valkyrie would be up to as the newly appointed king of New Asgard, Thompson was clear: “I think first of all as king, as new king, she needs to find her queen. That’ll be her first order of business.”
Thompson added that Valkyrie “has some ideas. Keep you posted.”
As The Huffington Post reports, Marvel head Kevin Feige confirmed Thompson’s implication that Valkyrie would have any explicitly queer storyline, adding that “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.”
This isn’t the first time Thompson has spoken up on behalf of her onscreen alter ego’s sexual orientation. In the Marvel Comics Universe, Valkyrie is canonically bisexual—and Thompson, who’s also bisexual, has brought that fact to the fandom’s attention time and time again.
YES! Val is Bi in the comics & I was faithful to that in her depiction. But her sexuality isn’t explicitly addressed in Thor: Ragnarok. https://t.co/hmb5lYN5to
— Tessa Thompson (@TessaThompson_x) October 23, 2017
The out actress (and rumored ex of Dirty Computer queen Janelle Monáe) is also slated to star in the latest installment of the Men in Black franchise alongside fellow Marvel Cinematic Universe actor Chris Hemsworth, a.k.a. Thor.