Taika Waititi to Play Canonically Gay Character in Thor 4

Taika Waititi's Thor: Love and Thunder has already been making headlines as it stands to depict one of Marvel's first big-screen superheros searching for a same-sex love interest with Tessa Thompson's Valkyrie. But, now the director has revealed that the film depicts another canonically gay character, who is sadly not set to find love.

In a recent Instagram Live screening party Thursday with Thompson, the actor-director-writer revealed that and more. Thompson, as Valkyrie, king of Asgard, will be looking for her queen in the film, making Valkyrie one of the first clearly LGBTQ+ stars in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. She will become the second, in fact, following Brian Tyree Henry's debut in The Eternalsas his character Phastos is reportedly married to a man, with whom he has two children. Some fans even believed that they would be joined by Korg in terms of queer representation.

But in their live, Waititi told Thompson that Korg, who is gay in the comics, won't have a romantic interest in the upcoming film because he's still getting over a lost love. Korg was once "deeply in love and lost that love along the line," and "doesn't feel brave enough to find love again," said Waititi, who previously played the character in Thor: Ragnarok and Avengers: Endgame.

While that will likely disappoint queer audiences, he said it doesn't mean Love and Thunder won't be full of action and surprises. Waititi, an Oscar winner for his Jojo Rabbit screenplay, said he's been through several drafts of the script for the new superhero movie, on which production has been delayed by the current health situation. The latest one is "so over-the-top now in the very best way," he said in the Instagram event. "It makes Ragnarok seem like a really run-of-the-mill, really safe film."

"This new film feels like we asked a bunch of 10-year-olds what should be in a movie and we said yes to every single thing," he added.

Release of Love and Thunder was originally set for November 2021, but with production halted throughout the industry, it's been pushed to February 18, 2022.The Eternals, was also slated for November 2021 but is now scheduled to be out February 12, 2021.

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