Part I: The God of Mischief and the Myth of MCU Queer Rep

Diversity win! The genocidal manipulative pathological liar trickster is canonically bisexual and genderfluid!

Disney+ Loki recently made an exciting revelation about the titular character in Episode 3 that aired on Wednesday, 23rd June. In light of this disclosure, let’s explore Loki’s background, the history of queer representation in MCU, and why it even matters. Disclaimer: Minor spoilers ahead.

Part I: Loki’s Queerness: Origins

*drumroll* Loki is Bi!

The latest revelation about the trickster appeared in a conversation between Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) in which they were interrogating one another about each other’s lives. On the subject of their love lives Sylvie asks “What about you? You’re a prince. Must have been would-be princesses? Or perhaps another prince?” and Loki replies “A bit of both. I suspect the same as you.”

This clearly marks Loki as MCU’s first explicitly canonically bisexual character. [It is interesting to note that Sylvie laughs slightly and does not refute the claim, hinting very strongly at her being bisexual too.] To remove any room for doubt, the show’s director Kate Herron tweeted a statement about how important it was “to [her], and [her] goal, to acknowledge Loki was bisexual.”

Actually, Loki has been Bi for a long time...

‘Young Avengers #15’ comic, released in 2013, depicts Loki conversing with David Alleyne and saying, “My culture doesn’t share your concept of sexual identity.” Marvel Comics have featured a bisexual Loki for 8 years, and Loki has been a part of the MCU since 2011, yet it is only now that Marvel Studios has acknowledged it. Fans hope that Marvel will follow through and not just use this as queer bait.

Loki is... what now?

Disney+ Loki also highlights another aspect of Loki’s identity. The Time Variant Authority’s file on Loki, as shown in a teaser for the series, lists his sex as “FLUID”. This caused a huge spark of excitement amongst the fans, who were pleasantly surprised that Disney would affirm their gender fluidity.

Gender fluidity refers to change over time in a person’s gender expression or gender identity, or both. Since Loki is able to change their form, their gender expression often changes with their identity.

In fact, Loki has been genderfluid for a long time too...

In the comics, Loki possesses the powers to shapeshift, which he regularly uses to impersonate other people or as a disguise. But, in ‘Original Sin Vol 1 # 2’ released in 2014, Thor and Loki visit a female-run society and Thor says “There are fair maidens,” to which Loki replies, “So am I, sometimes. It doesn’t mean I’m safe to talk to.”

Loki blends into the society by shapeshifting into a female, and she is referred to with she/her pronouns. The genderfluidity is validated yet again when Odin introduces his children by saying: “My son, my daughter, and my child who is both.” Loki’s identity as a genderfluid character in Marvel comics is irrefutable.

‘Loki: Agent of Asgard’ (2016-17) is a solo comic series that explicitly confirms that Loki is pansexual and genderfluid. It provided more information on Loki’s gender identity by showing them switching between male and female forms and using masculine pronouns when he presented as male and feminine pronouns when she presented as female.

Um, longer than that...

The ‘Poetic Edda', a collection of Old Norse poems, is one of the main surviving sources of information about Norse mythology, most likely compiled in the thirteenth century CE. It includes a poem known as the Lokasenna, which was most likely composed in around the tenth century CE, in which it is mentioned that Loki once lived on earth as a woman for eight years, during which time she milked a cow, had sex with a man and gave birth to children.

‘Prose Edda’ is another major source of Norse mythology from the 12th century CE and it contains a book known as the ‘Gylfaginning’, in which Loki transforms into a mare in heat, approaches the stallion Svaðilfari (Svadilfari), and has sexual intercourse with him and, nine months later, she gives birth to a foal with eight legs named Sleipnir, who later becomes Odin’s horse. ‘Gylfaginning’ also contains the myth of the death of Baldr in which Loki is a female twice.

Genderfluid is a new fancy-schmancy word!

The gender fluidity of Loki in Norse Mythology is indisputable. The word genderfluid is undeniably a modern invention and no equivalent word existed in Old Norse. For Loki to voluntarily live on earth as a woman for eight years, she would have to identify as a woman in some sense. Even if it is interpreted as Loki living as a male spirit in a female body, their identity would still be queer. Bottom line, in Norse Mythology, Loki is not a fully cisgender male inhabiting a fully male body 100% of the time.

Loki’s genderfluidity is an important characteristic of their character and MCU finally acknowledging it is more than just an attempt at token gender diversity. Representation of trans characters, especially non-binary characters is extremely scarce, and Marvel must not treat it as a throwaway fun fact.

Part 2

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