'Loki's Tom Hiddleston Says Marvel Has 'Further to Go' on LGBTQ+ Rep

And he's right!!

As the Marvel Cinematic Universe continues into its fourth phase, it’s adding some much-needed diversity — but for many fans, it's not nearly enough.

While Disney and Marvel Studios seem to be pretty proud of their inclusion of queer characters in the new MCU, many fans are left wanting a lot more. And some of the MCU’s biggest stars recognize that.

Tom Hiddleston, who plays the MCU’s first queer lead character, Loki, was being interviewed by The Guardian when he opined on the bit of queer representation his show introduced to the MCU.

“We all wanted to retain the integrity of the character – I wanted to make sure we didn’t lose the bits that people loved, while doing something new,” Hiddleston said of playing Loki in his titular TV show. “I also hope Loki coming out as bisexual was meaningful to people who spotted it. It was a small step, and there’s further to go. But it was definitely important to all of us.”

In one episode of the show, Loki is getting to know his female variant Sylvie better. The two are talking about each other’s love lives when Sylvie asks, “How about you? You’re a prince. Must’ve been would-be-princesses, or, perhaps, another prince?”

“A bit of both,” Loki replies. “I suspect the same as you.”

His queerness wasn’t brought up again. As Hiddleston said, it was definitely a small step, but Marvel definitely has much further to go.

With ostensibly lesbian superhero America Chavez making her MCU debut in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, queerness in the MCU is front and center right now. Many fans were overjoyed to hear that Chavez would be joining the MCU, adding some much-needed queerness to the universe.

However, in the film, her queerness is never mentioned or even hinted at, leaving many fans with a bad taste in their mouth. Many had hoped that after Loki’s coming out, we’d see more space for queer heroes in the MCU. It still remains to be seen if that will happen.

The MCU’s next chance at queer rep comes in this summers’ Thor: Love and Thunder where bisexual hero Valkyrie is said to be “looking for a queen.” Thor: Love and Thunder flies into theaters July 8.

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