Phastos must be crushed. Back in March 2020, the Eternals hero was unveiled to some fanfare as the MCU’s first openly LGBTQ+ character, but now he’s been pipped at the post by Loki. Tom Hiddleston’s Asgardian trickster is taking center stage this week, with his hotly anticipated Disney+ show premiering on Wednesday. The hype machine is in full swing, too, with a recent teaser trailer confirming what many had suspected: Loki is officially gender-fluid.
On Sunday, a short promo gave us a peek at the Time Variance Authority’s file on him, listing his name as Loki Laufeyson, his birthplace as Jotunheim, and his sex as fluid. It’s difficult to get more concrete evidence than this, as according to them, they’ve studied the antihero for his entire life.
Of course, this shouldn’t come as a surprise to avid MCU viewers. Loki’s mercurial nature has seen him disguised as many characters across the years, a trend set to continue in his solo series. Rumor has it that we’ll see the Hiddleston Loki recruited to take down a female Loki (known as Lady Loki), with the theory being that the only person who can successfully puzzle out Loki’s web of deceit is… Loki.
Now, before you get all hot and bothered below the line about the SJW-ification of Hollywood or whatever, Loki being gender-fluid is entirely in keeping with the original Norse mythology that the character originates in. In the poem Thyrmskvitha, he convinces Thor to go undercover as the comely Freyja, with Loki posing as his sexy handmaiden and Thor ending up getting a marriage proposal for looking so damn cute.
In fact, Loki changing gender in Norse sagas was the least of what he’d get up to. At one point, he transformed into a mare, got pregnant by a stallion and gave birth to an eight-legged horse. And while I’m sure Hiddleston could act the hell out of that story, somehow I doubt it’ll make it onto Disney Plus.
Anyways, if you’ve got a bee in your bonnet about this news, take it up with the Vikings.