‘Thor’: Tessa Thompson Will Be Marvel’s First LGBTQ Character; Natalie Portman Returns
There were a lot of stunning revelations about the next Thor at Marvel’s Comic-Con panel today.
The fate of the Thor franchise had been in question in recent months. Marvel’s other single hero franchises — Iron Man and Captain America — have only lasted three installments each. But unlike those two characters, Chris Hemsworth’s Thor, as we know him, still exists. At the end of Avengers: Endgame, he takes to space with the Guardians of the Galaxy, leading fans to believe that he will be in the next Guardians film.
Earlier this week, it was announced that Taika Waititi, who wrote and directed the third Thor film, 2017’s Thor: Ragnarok, will return for the next film. However, there was no word as to what characters would be featured in the film. Would it focus on Hemsworth’s Thor, or would it focus on the earthbound Asgardians, including Tessa Thompson’s Valykerie?
Today, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige announced Thor: Love And Thunder would feature Valkerie, and also Natalie Portman’s Jane Foster, who hasn’t been seen since the second Thor film, 2013’s Thor: The Dark World (other than a brief flashback cameo on Avengers: Endgame). And also that Jane would pick up the hammer of Thor, as she did in the comic books Portman was present at the event.
Sci-fi site io9 also broke the news that Thompson’s Valykerie would be revealed as LGBTQ in Thor: Love And Thunder. “The answer is yes,” Feige told io9. “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.”
Thor: Love and Thunder is slated to hit theaters November 5, 2021.
