Culture

Thor: Ragnarok has cut an explicitly bisexual scene from its DVD release

Mar 07 2018
Written by Josh Jackman

(YouTube/Marvel Entertainment)

Thor: Ragnarok has cut an explicitly bisexual scene from its DVD release.

Last year’s Marvel smash hit included Valkyrie, the first ever bi superhero in a blockbuster film.

The badass warrior, played by Tessa Thompson, lit up the screen as the film’s dashing, flawed renegade.

(YouTube/Marvel Entertainment)

Just days before it was released in cinemas in October, Thompson confirmed on Twitter that her character’s sexuality would be the same as it is in comics.

The actress, who has also starred in Selma, Creed, Westworld and a Janelle Monáe video, wrote: “She’s bi. And yes, she cares very little about what men think of her.”

(Twitter/tessathompson_x)

However, the film itself did not explicitly confirm her interest in women on-screen.

A scene which showed Valkyrie’s sexuality for all to see was cut from the cinematic release.

Speaking to Rolling Stone, Thompson revealed she had convinced the film’s director Taika Waititi to get a shot of a woman walking out of Valkyrie’s bedroom.

(YouTube/Marvel Entertainment)

But it was left on the cutting room floor as the film was trimmed down, “because it distracted from the scene’s vital exposition”.

And despite including additional material for the film’s DVD release, like bonus features on villain Hela and Valkyrie herself, the scene has once again been chopped.

There was one brief moment that made the final cut which was potentially suggestive of a same-sex lover, when a flashback showed Valkyrie devastated by the death of a fallen female comrade.

(YouTube/Marvel Entertainment)

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.”

She added: “There were things that we talked about that we allowed to exist in the characterisation, but maybe not be explicit in the film.”

(YouTube/Marvel Entertainment)

Marvel’s reluctance to portray bisexuality on the big screen is in opposition to the company’s inclusion of a lesbian superhero in Runaways, a TV show in which one of the main characters, Karolina Dean, realises her sexuality while figuring out her powers.

Last year, Marvel launched a comic led by America Chavez, a queer Latina teenager with lesbian parents.

Karolina with friend (YouTube/Hulu)

The comic, called America, prompted an outpouring of support from readers who were overjoyed to finally see an LGBT Latina superhero lead her own comic.

However, Marvel also moved to quash speculation that two warriors in Black Panther would be in a lesbian relationship, sparking outrage and accusations of erasure.