Fans Decry Hollow 'Super Gay' Claims about New 'Thor' Movie

"Love and Thunder," the new "Thor" movie, was supposed to be "super gay," according to star Natalie Portman and director Taika Waititi. Instead, reports and social media posts are saying that although there are gestures toward representation in the film, it's all mere lip service (and not even the fun kind).

"At the London premiere of Marvel's latest CGI-laden film, 'Thor: Love and Thunder,' an audience member asked, 'How gay is the film?'" Gawker recounted.

Waititi punted the question to Portman, the article said. "Looking unsure or embarrassed or both, she responded directly into the mic at half-volume: 'So gay.'"

Then Waititi jumped in and "screamed into the mic" that the movie is "Super gay!" the article said. "The crowd erupted in laughs and cheers."

But after seeing the film for themselves, disappointed audience members took to social media, calling those claims a "lie."

They also accused Marvel of "queerbaiting."

Autostraddle recalled how the character Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson) who is supposed to be bisexual, had her sexuality erased in 2017's "Ragnarok," when a same-sex kiss between Valkyrie and her female lover was excised from the movie before release.

The outlet also dragged Marvel for an ongoing pattern of dangling the prospect of LGBTQ+ representation in its large- and small-screen projects, only for that representation to be minimized, confined to easily-excisable scenes with no direct bearing on the plot, or discarded entirely in the editing room.

"Now we're full circle to Valkyrie, [whose] big anticipated queer reckoning – after her first cutting room floor incident! – was a mention of an off-camera and dead girlfriend," Autostraddle blasted. "Here we are again."

Moreover, the article noted, there's a disconnect between the movies and TV series, and the comic book origins of the characters.

"Marvel comics are notoriously queer, and owe so much to queer and trans perspectives," the article pointed out, "but the multi-billion dollar movie and television empire spawned off its back seemingly never will be, at least not in any meaningful way."

Waititi spoke elsewhere about the subject of LGBTQ+ representation in movies, telling an Australian newspaper, "It's 2022 and we're still having these conversations, it's just insane," the New York Daily News reported. "It's insane that people still want to talk about that. Why is it not normalized? Why is it weird or different?"

Valkyrie actor Tessa Thompson also commented on the subject in remarks to the Los Angeles Times that reports critiqued.

"I think there's a lot of folks that are righteously very hungry for that representation to exist in these movies, as am I," Thompson told the Times.
"But I also think [it's important] not to hang the character's hat solely on her sexual identity just because she's a queer character," Thompson went on to say. "I think that's one way of minimizing her humanity, actually, if that's the only facet that you get to explore her in."

At least fans had the chance to enjoy star Chris Hemsworth's bare backside, blurrily teased in the film's trailer, in its full non-pixelated glory.