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Everyone Is Reporting Thor: Ragnarok Will Have MCU's First LGBTQ+ Character – But Will It Really?

Seeming to hit the airwaves today is news that everyone seems to be reporting as Thor: Ragnarok, the next Marvel Cinematic Universe instalment and third Thor film, will contain the MCU's very first queer character, in the form of alien member of the Warbound, Korg.

Thor

The film takes place on Sakaar, and is taking a lot of inspiration from Planet Hulk, which features the Warbound and Korg.

In the comics, Korg was revealed to be gay and in a relationship with fellow Warbound member Hiroim.

Thor: Ragnarok

Now, the issue I have with this is all those reporting on it seem to be basing this on the fact that Korg is queer in the comics. However, this does not mean that will be kept in translation to the big screen. Or worse, we as yet do not know the extent of Korg's role in the movie, and it could be another 'genuine gay moment' like Disney tried to pull with the Beauty & the Beast live action remake.

And if we're being entirely honest, if a character being canonically queer in the comics is enough for us to start jumping up and down in excitement that there's 'queer representation' in the MCU at last, then we did that a looooooong time ago.

In the comics, Loki is canonically queer. Gender fluid and pansexual by our definitions, though he himself says how Asgardians don't really use labels the way that humans do.

So this feels like a lot of excitement over what, at this stage, could be absolutely nothing, and will wind up being a missed opportunity for Marvel Studios to add some much needed diversity in their films.

What is going to be quite exciting is that Korg will be played by Thor: Ragnarok director, Taika Waititi, who has said this of the character,

"We wanted to change the idea of what a hulking guy made of rocks could be. He's huge and heavy, but with a light soul. We wanted to make him funny and a relatable entry point into this world. And Thor needs friends."

Thor: Ragnarok hits cinema screens from October 27th, 2017.


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Joe GlassAbout Joe Glass

Joe Glass has been contributing to Bleeding Cool for about four years. He's been a roaming reporter at shows like SDCC and NYCC, and also has a keen LGBTQ focus, with his occasional LGBTQ focus articles, Tales from the Four Color Closet. He is also now Bleeding Cool's Senior Mutant Correspondent thanks to his obsession with Marvel's merry mutants. Joe is also a comics creator, writer of LGBTQ superhero team series, The Pride, the first issue of which was one of the Top 25 ComiXology Submit Titles of 2014. He is also a co-writer on Stiffs, a horror comedy series set in South Wales about call centre workers who hunt the undead by night. One happens to be a monkey. Just because.
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