By David T. Valentin
In a recent interview with Loki director Kate Herron with ET, Herron confessed her excitement in creating the moment where Loki confirmed himself to be bisexual. In a conversation between himself and Sylvie the variant, a variation of Loki from another universe.
“What about you? You’re a prince,” Sylvie says to Loki. “Must have been would-be princesses. Or perhaps another prince?”
“A bit of both,” Loki responds. “I suspect the same as you.”
In a tweet posted shortly after the episode aired, Herron wrote, “From the moment I joined @LokiOfficial 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 mheart is so full, to say that this is now canon in #mcu #Loki.”
With Loki wrapping up on July 14th, and a supposed second season to more fully wrap up the show after its speedy ending due to covid restrictions, the internet was abuzz with the implications of Loki’s sexuality for not only his character, but future queer characters in the MCU.
When asked by ET “what it means for Loki to be bisexual,” Herron responded, “I would say in our story, this is how we acknowledge it. But I hope that paves the way for deeper exploration.”
With the romantic implications between Loki and Sylvie, despite them being different versions of the same character, many fans are worried the two will enter into in a relationship and Loki’s bisexuality will not be further explored in future MCU projects. But some fans have claimed such an argument is biphobic.
When it comes to bisexuality, there is often the misconception to view bisexual people as attracted to both men and women, but when they enter into a relationship with one or the other, they are then viewed as gay or straight. If a bisexual man dates a man, then people say they were gay all along. But if a bisexual man dates a woman, they’re told they were just confused and they were straight all along.
And while the implications of getting mad that future MCU projects won’t explore Loki’s attraction to men is biphobic, there is a very real argument in terms of writing bisexual characters. For some, Loki’s quick piece of dialogue could be an easy way for the MCU to give them a pat on the back for inclusion without ever truly showing Loki exploring his bisexuality. And understandably people would be upset given not only the MCU’s lack of diversity when it comes to sexuality, but Disney’s issues of including LGBTQ+ characters in two second scenes that could easily be edited out due to censorship in certain countries.
But still, in a way that falls into a biphobic argument because it seems as though Loki needs to prove his bisexuality. There are plenty of bisexual men and women who are attracted to both sexes, whether romantically or sexually, and never end up in a same-sex relationship nor get the opportunity to experiment. Considering that Loki has confirmed he has had relations with men in the past, that should be enough to end the conversation on his bisexuality especially considering that the writers might be leaning toward developing a relationship between him and Sylvie. And in real life if a bisexual person is in an opposite-sex relationship, would we ever walk up to them and ask them to prove their bisexuality in some way, other than that person speaking on their past experiences? No, that would be a bit weird.
Not only that, but with the introduction of kid Loki, it’s possible the character could appear in future MCU projects which might explore his bisexuality as he comes of age. With Marvel seemingly positioning the Young Avengers in recent films and series and the large LGBTQ+ cast the team has, it’s going to be near impossible not to explore sexuality.
The team includes: Billy Kaplan, Wanda Maximoff’s child and a gay man; Cassie Lang, one of the few straight members of the Young Avengers and has made her appearance in the Ant-man films as well as Avengers: Endgame; Kate Bishop, briefly hinted to be bisexual at the end of Kieron Gillen’s 2013 Young Avengers run; and America Chavez, a superhuman lesbian with the power to travel between dimensions, and who is slated to appear in Dr. Strange: Multiverse of Madness; and the introduction of Elijah Bradley, Isaiah Bradley’s grandson, in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. That leads only Teddy Altman, aka Hulkling, the half-Kree half-Skrull heir to both empires and the boyfriend of Billy, to make his appearance as well, which might happen in the Marvels, which might introduce the conflict between the Kree and Skrull empires.
Despite whichever iteration of the Young Avengers team we get, there’s too much of the LGBTQ+ rainbow that Marvel can’t possibly ignore integrating these character’s sexualities into a Young Avengers series/tv show.
At the end of the day, money talks. If Marvel decides to disappoint with the proper introduction and delivery of so many LGBTQ+ characters into the MCU, the company better expect a massive amount of backlash. So, it is in their best interest to properly portray these characters, if not for proper inclusion then at least for financial interest.