Thor: Ragnarok is now playing in select theaters overseas, and at least so far, Taika Waititi’s threequel has generated a staggering amount of goodwill across the four corners of the industry.
Box office forecasts are through the roof, while Ragnarok has also been a hit among critics – so much so, in fact, that it’s since become the MCU’s highest-rated pic on Rotten Tomatoes. That’s quite an achievement, not least because Marvel’s Thor series was beginning to slip toward franchise fatigue prior to the appointment of Taika Waititi, and the entire journey has been such a resounding success that the New Zealand filmmaker refuses to rule out the possibility of working with Marvel in the not-so-distant future. A female-led Thor movie, perhaps?
But beneath all of the sky-high estimates and glowing reviews, Thor: Ragnarok has also been championed as a progressive step in the right direction for its decision to include Tessa Thompson’s Valkyrie, the first openly LGBT character to feature in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
There is one caveat, however. While Valkyrie is portrayed as bisexual in Marvel Comics, leading to an impassioned response from Thompson herself (“She’s bi: And yes, she cares very little about what men think of her. What a joy to play!”), the character’s sexuality isn’t explicitly addressed in the film.
Per Twitter:
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
To her credit, Tessa Thompson was conscious of Valkyrie’s sexuality while filming Ragnarok, even if the Powers That Be decided against a potential romantic subplot involving her hardened bounty hunter. Diversity for diversity’s sake is one thing, but when the source material has already revealed Valkyrie to be bisexual, the decision to skate around that sadly feels like a missed opportunity.
Look for Thor: Ragnarok to light up US theaters on November 3rd.
