Valkyrie's Only 'Bisexual' Scene In Thor: Ragnarok Was Cut From The Movie

Talk about your bi erasure. Tessa Thompson may have confirmed that her character in Thor: Ragnarok is bisexual, in what was reportedly a first for the 17-movie Marvel Cinematic Universe—but you wouldn't know it if all you did was watch the movie. 

Reportedly, the only reference in Thor: Ragnarok to this aspect of Valkyrie's character ended up being cut out of the movie, according to an interview with the actress in Rolling Stone. 

According to Thompson, she was the one who pitched the idea of making Valkyrie explicitly bisexual in the movie, reflecting the character's modern day comic book identity. But the one scene that they shot, involving a woman suggestively walking out of Valkyrie's bedroom, was cut. (But she's not entirely unromantic—as Screen Crush points out, Valkyrie shares plenty of flirtatious moments with the Odinson.)

Despite the lack of on-screen representation, Thompson still asserts that this aspect of Valkyrie's identity went into her interpretation of the character.

"There were things that we talked about that we allowed to exist in the characterization, but maybe not be explicit in the film," Thompson said. "There's a great shot of me falling back from one of my sisters who's just been slain. In my mind, that was my lover."

Much has been made over Thompson's confirmation of Valkyrie being "the first gay MCU character", but based on relatively recent press, that's may not even be true—we thought Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2's Mantis was the groundbreaker. 

At least, that was the buzz in the leadup to the movie's release, buzz that was all but walked back entirely after the only allusion to that orientation for Mantis in the movie—and this is a stretch—was her open-ended "I'm not even attracted to the type of thing you are" comment to Drax the Destroyer. And Drax is ugly.

In addition to Valkyrie's cut scene, Marvel rushed to deny reports that there would be a lesbian romance threaded through the upcoming Black Panther involving the character of Ayo, who was played by Florence Kasumba in Captain America: Civil War. 

Lots of people do want full-on LGBT representation in the MCU, and whether or not Marvel Studios wants to make it a priority is up to them. But the way the studio is currently letting its creatives tease the possibility without actually following through is probably the most annoying approach they could possibly choose. Do it or don't, but at least commit, you know? The current approach lets them—excuse the expression—have things both ways, paying lip service to diversity without ever actually going to the trouble of showing it. 

Regardless, all reports are that Valkyrie is a home run of a character in Ragnarok, girlfriend or not. See for yourself when the second Thor sequel strikes theaters in the US on November 3.