Tom Hiddleston talks Loki’s bisexuality, says MCU must ‘reflect the world we live in’

Loki‘s admittance that his romantic history has included “a bit of both” in the third episode of his self-titled Disney Plus show was a small step for an Asgardian, but one giant leap for the MCU. With this throwaway line, the God of Mischief became the MCU’s first openly queer leading character. The development unsurprisingly meant a lot to fans, and it turns out it meant a lot to Loki himself, Tom Hiddleston, as well.

Speaking to Lily James as part of Variety‘s “Actors on Actors” interview series, Hiddleston reflected on Loki’s bisexuality, pointing out that it was hardly a shocking reveal about the character as Thor’s brother has been fluid about his gender and sexuality since the original Norse myths. So the Avengers: Infinity War star was “pleased and privileged” when this element of his persona was brought into the MCU. As he explained:

“Back from my early days of researching the character in the ancient myths, the identity of Loki was fluid in every aspect and in gender, in sexuality. It’s a very ancient part of the character and I think I thought about it. … It hadn’t emerged in the stories we’ve told. And I was really pleased and privileged, actually, that it’s came up in the series.

Hiddleston went on to admit, however, that the aforementioned one-liner was only the beginning of an ongoing battle for fuller LGBTQIA+ representation in the Marvel universe, stressing that the franchise must “reflect the world we live in” better than it currently does. Touching on Loki’s sexuality was apparently at the forefront of what Hiddleston, the series’ director, and its showrunner wanted to do with the series. The star continued:

It’s a small step. There’s so much more to do. But the Marvel Cinematic Universe has to reflect the world we live in. So it was an honor to bring that up. It was really important to me. It was really important to Kate Herron and Michael Waldron, and I’m pleased that we could bring it into our story.

Some have complained about how little Loki’s bisexuality was actually explored on screen, causing Kate Herron to defend the moment, although she conceded — much like Hiddleston — that there’s much still to be done with queer rep in the MCU. With Loki‘s second season starting production this very month, however, hopefully we can expect these themes to be deepened as the trickster’s journey unfolds.