Thor: Love and Thunder is a 2022 American superhero film based on Marvel Comics featuring the character Thor, produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. It is the sequel to Thor: Ragnarok (2017) and the 29th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The film is directed by Taika Waititi, who co-wrote the script with Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, and stars Chris Hemsworth as Thor alongside Christian Bale, Tessa Thompson, Jaimie Alexander, Waititi, Russell Crowe, and Natalie Portman. In the film, Thor attempts to find inner peace, but must return to action and recruit Valkyrie (Thompson), Korg (Waititi), and Jane Foster (Portman)—who is now the Mighty Thor—to stop Gorr the God Butcher (Bale) from eliminating all gods.
The issue of promoting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) through films has recently become a hot topic of discussion. LGBT messages are often inserted by Marvel’s films.
Still fresh in my mind Doctor Strange Multiverse of Madness was banned in several countries because it featured LGBT characters.
Now the latest Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) film, Thor: Love and Thunder, apparently also inserts several scenes that promote LGBT.
The film Thor: Love and Thunder tells the story of Thor (Chris Hemsworth) whose retirement is disrupted due to the presence of Gorr (Christian Bale) who has a mission to kill all the gods.
To fight Gorr, Thor enlists the help of King Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson), and Korg (Taika Waititi). It’s quite surprising because Thor’s ex-lover, Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) also joins after she gets super powers from Mjolnir, Thor’s former weapon.
So what are the LGBT messages in Thor: Love and Thunder? Here is a summary.
- Valkyrie is attracted to Jane
The first scene is when Thor and his group walk to Olympus to meet Zeus. Thor conversed with Jane and the two of them still felt awkward because they had been separated for so long.
Soon the Valkyrie approached Thor and asked if Thor still liked Jane. Because of his prestige, Thor admits that he is no longer interested and then turns to make fun of Valkyrie who is interested in Jane.
The scene shows that Thor already knows the Valkyrie character who really likes fellow women.
- Valkyrie kisses concubine Zeus hand
Then, another scene full of LGBT messages is when Valkyrie kisses the hand of Zeus‘ beautiful concubine.
The scene begins with a fierce battle between Thor’s group and Zeus. They also won the battle. Just before leaving, the Valkyrie who was in charge of retrieving Zeus’ weapons suddenly stopped for a moment and looked at a beautiful concubine accompanying Zeus.
He looked down and kissed the hand of the concubine Zeus very romantically. This scene again strengthens the status of the Valkyrie who is indeed a same-sex lover.
- Korg has two fathers
Furthermore, the LGBT message is also inserted through the character Korg whose body is made of stone.
In one scene, Korg tells that he was born through his two fathers through the ritual of bathing together and creating baby Korg.
Not only that, it is known that the Korg only have one gender, namely male.
