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What’s Holding Disney Back From More LGBT Characters Like Loki? Chinese Censors
The Federalist ^ | June 28, 2021 | Paulina Enck

Posted on 06/28/2021 8:33:27 AM PDT by Kaslin

The sum total endgame of this reveal is the line, a canonical declaration that Loki dates men and women, with no effect on his character or the narrative.


The MCU officially has their first openly gay main character. Sort of.

Midway through episode three of the latest MCU Disney Plus series “Loki,” a small conversation between the God of Mischief and an alternate universe version of himself called Sylvie reveals that both have a dating history of impermanent dalliances with both men and women. Lasting under 30 seconds, the bit of dialogue serves little plot function except to show the bonding between the two versions of Loki.

Unsurprisingly, the internet went wild. A new episode of a Disney Plus MCU series will always trend on Twitter, but a substantial quantity of the discussion for the episode was dedicated to this 30-second clip. It is unambiguously clear from this instance that Loki is bisexual, as is his female variant, but this is all to which the reveal amounts.

Across his many MCU appearances, Loki has never had a canonical love interest of either sex. He is certainly a charmer, passively flirting with a vast array of characters, from Jeff Goldblum’s tyrannical leader in “Ragnarok” to Sylvie in the aforementioned episode, but there has been nothing to even suggest a possible romantic or sexual relationship.

It is likely that the sum total endgame of this reveal is the line itself, a canonical declaration that Loki dates men and women, with no effect on his character or the narrative.

The China Problem

Disney Plus should be the place where Marvel could inch towards including gay characters, if they truly desired, as it is not currently launched in China. The Communist Chinese censors are not friendly to LGBT content, which is not formally banned but often flagged.

Due to the increasing importance of the Chinese market to inflate box office returns, studios and directors are seeking a means by which to balance attention-gaining representation in the West with acceptable content overseas. Although some find this type of move hollow and frustrating, it generates a substantial amount of press.

The press and social media were flooded with reports of Sulu from “Star Trek” or LeFou in the live-action “Beauty and the Beast” would be gay, but these instances would have gone unnoticed and remained unclear had it not been for press releases before the films premiered.

Marvel trafficked in a similarly cynical marketing strategy by loudly announcing an unambiguously gay character in “Avengers: Endgame,” only for the widely reported scene to be a comment by an unnamed man in a support group about a date he went on with another guy. “Endgame” did not need the attention, as it was the climax of a gargantuan franchise with an enormous fanbase and went on to break box office records. In fact, the moment was widely criticized, noted for its obvious attempts at pandering without any substance.

Some movies which fail to comply can either be banned in China or faced edits in order to appease the censors, which could severely harm the quality or clarity of the story. “Bohemian Rhapsody” endured cuts that rendered the narrative incomprehensible. To save their work from such a fate, without standing up to the censors, these ambiguous or easily-removed nods are treated as an adequate replacement.

The Future of the MCU

This move calls into question the handling of several existing and upcoming MCU characters. Taika Waititi, who is directing the upcoming “Thor: Love and Thunder,” and actress Tessa Thompson have expressed an interest in portraying Valkyrie as bisexual, as she is in the comics, after a canonical depiction was excised from “Thor Ragnarok.”

“The Eternals” is set to have a kiss between Brian Tyree Henry and his male love interest, but with how intensely director Chloe Zhao has spent last awards season pandering to China in order to ensure the film’s success, this heavily discussed event will likely be far less notable than advertised, akin to Sulu in “Star Trek” or the “Rise of Skywalker” kiss.

While they have yet to be formally announced, the storyline likely to be most affected by these next few decisions regarding gay characters and China is the Young Avengers. With America Chavez set to feature in the new Doctor Strange film, Kate Bishop being introduced in “Hawkeye,” and Wiccan, Speed, Patriot, and Stature all introduced in existing MCU projects, the onscreen adaptation seems inevitable.

Yet with many of their major storylines heavily featuring the relationship between Billy Kaplan and Teddy Altman, to the point their romance and the mission objectives are often intrinsically narratively tied, this tip-toeing towards unambiguity could give some fans hope that will likely result in disappointment.

Gender and Shapeshifting

This bisexuality reveal is not the only aspect of Loki’s character garnering attention in discussions of representation. Stills from the initial trailer had shown Loki’s paperwork to detail his “sex” as “fluid.”

Some have taken this to mean that Loki identifies as gender-fluid, even as his portrayal appears to negate this supposition. Although Loki has a female variant, he is referred to as a man, with masculine pronouns and words like “son,” and “brother.” The fluidity comes in the form of his ability to shapeshift.

Many comic book shapeshifters, including Loki, seem to have some flexibility regarding gender, as the physical ability to adjust into anyone at a moment’s notice would alter one’s relationship to any immutable characteristic. If the corporeal form is as malleable and ephemeral as it is for people like Loki or X-Men’s Mystique, the defining labels follow suit, especially since Loki has given birth and the female Mystique was nearly made Nightcrawler’s father by Chris Claremont.

For Marvel shapeshifters, gender fluidity is not treated as an identity but a facet of a complex superpower. There are no new pronouns to be demanded, just the acknowledgment that they can physically shift between appearances at will, at times taking on new identities with the new forms.

Ultimately, Loki’s coming out of sorts will likely have little tangible impact on the future of the MCU. He is not slated to return in the next Thor film, despite rumors persisting to the contrary. Romantic subplots appear to be rightfully taking a backseat in favor of its time-bending, interdimensional adventures, and with only three episodes left of “Loki,” this does not appear to be changing anytime soon.

As for the rest of the MCU, fans of characters like Wiccan or Speed should not hold their breath for their being depicted faithfully. So long as Communist China is a major market, studios will be more interested in expanding the market than standing up for their creations and against censorship. Instead, much ado will continue to be made about these minor moments, garnering the desired attention while forgoing any meaningful development.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: bidenvoters; china; gender; genderfluid; genderidentity; hollyweird; homofascism; lgbqt; loki; marvel; marvelcomics; mcu; movies; rapingmychildhood; revisionisthistory; sex; sexualizingchildren; thor
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1 posted on 06/28/2021 8:33:27 AM PDT by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

Useful idiots rarely outlast their usefulness......................


2 posted on 06/28/2021 8:35:59 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegal aliens are put up in hotels.....................)
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To: Kaslin

Funny how the Chinese have a deeper moral compass on the whole than most in the US


3 posted on 06/28/2021 8:38:03 AM PDT by bboise
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To: Kaslin

I love it.

Libs here LOVE f a g s and stuff them down our throats in the the name of pushing communism.

They love China - they love Russia (USSR).

But, they find pure commies that they love most, don’t love f a g s.

So, they stop what they typically do bowing to their commie masters.


4 posted on 06/28/2021 8:39:08 AM PDT by the OlLine Rebel (Common sense is an uncommon virtue./Federal-run medical care is as good as state-run DMVs. I )
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To: bboise

Yeah, so do Moslems.

Schadenfreude.

I love when liberal groupings conflict with each other. It’s not all “peace and love”.


5 posted on 06/28/2021 8:39:52 AM PDT by the OlLine Rebel (Common sense is an uncommon virtue./Federal-run medical care is as good as state-run DMVs. I )
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To: the OlLine Rebel

Fags did not have a good time in the Soviet Union. But the Soviet government knew the harmful impact on society it had, so their agents tried to impose as much of it on their enemies as possible.

No question the Chinese are taking the same approach.


6 posted on 06/28/2021 8:41:07 AM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: bboise

“Funny how the Chinese have a deeper moral compass on the whole than most in the US”

I am the biggest critic of china but you would never see the topless dyke march that happed this past weekend in NYC.

I watched some vidos on you tube with Americans in china. You can walk down any street in the middle of the night and you will not be robbed or killed.


7 posted on 06/28/2021 8:45:25 AM PDT by setter
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To: Kaslin
The Future of the MCU

As far as I am concerned, the MCU ended with Endgame. It was already getting woke, but it looks like it is going hysterically woke now. I've seen enough comic book movies.

8 posted on 06/28/2021 8:48:08 AM PDT by Sans-Culotte (11/3-11/4/2020 - The USA became a banana republic.)
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To: Kaslin

The irony is that in the classical myth about Loki, he eventually met a hideously obese giant blob monster named Angrboda in a cave and mated with her, producing three monsters: the wolf Fenrir, the Midgard serpent Jörmungand, and the ruler of the dead Hel.

So, Loki was also a “chubby chaser.”


9 posted on 06/28/2021 8:53:32 AM PDT by yefragetuwrabrumuy (Do kids in Iceland still play "The Floor Is Lava?")
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To: the OlLine Rebel

“But, they find pure commies that they love most, don’t love f a g s.”

And so, more cognitive dissonance in them. To further degrade their mental imbalance.


10 posted on 06/28/2021 8:55:46 AM PDT by polymuser (A socialist is a communist without the power to take everything from their citizens...yet.d)
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To: setter
you would never see the topless dyke march

I would like to see Antifa try to burn down a city in China.

Bet the city would be fine but Antifa would be the ones burning...
11 posted on 06/28/2021 9:01:40 AM PDT by cgbg (A kleptocracy--if they can keep it. Think of it as the Cantillon Effect in action.)
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To: Kaslin

The ChiComs know that the rainbow crap is cultural poison. They are only too happy to foist it on us. In their marketplace...no freakin’ way. It will be amusing to watch the perverted American left attempt to explain it to them, only to find out that the Chinese secretly hate them.


12 posted on 06/28/2021 9:08:52 AM PDT by Antoninus (Republicans are all honorable men.)
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To: Kaslin

Folks, according to the myths Loki was WEIRD.
He turned into a mare to have a foal with a stallion called Svaðilfari. That foal was Odin’s steed, Sleipner.
Loki also sired Hel, the Fenris wolf, and the Midgard serpent, Jörmungandr, on a giantess, Angrboda.
In Loki the weirdos at Marvel have a vehicle for any sort of weirdness they want to display.


13 posted on 06/28/2021 9:09:09 AM PDT by Little Ray (Corporations don't pay taxes. They collect them.)
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To: Sans-Culotte
As far as I am concerned, the MCU ended with Endgame. It was already getting woke, but it looks like it is going hysterically woke now. I've seen enough comic book movies.

I watched them only to gain cultural reference understanding. Most of them were utterly awful in every artistic sense. The wokeness just added another level of putrescence to an already unpalatable product.
14 posted on 06/28/2021 9:10:56 AM PDT by Antoninus (Republicans are all honorable men.)
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To: Kaslin

It isn’t so much that Marvel is slipping in the LGBT ages, it’s that everybody is doing it. There is incredible pressure on entertainment to include LGBT content. I can’t watch a new series without wondering which character is going to be the gay. Walking Dead had several gat character, Shameless, a horrible show. I finished watching Bosch on Amazon. Pretty good and even with the gay female lieutenant. Every single show has some gayness now. It is more common than heterosexual love. It’s almost surprising when you get a straight male and straight female relationship. Maybe by now the whole man-woman thing is worn out.


15 posted on 06/28/2021 9:30:43 AM PDT by webheart (I already had COVID disease and 2 vaccine shots Can I take the mask off now?)
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To: bboise

The agenda in America isn’t about “morals” it is about making a revolution. Kate Millett and Bill Ayers both fessed up to it. Smash the Patriarchy. Smash Monogamy. Army of swinging bisexual lovers, promotion of prostitution, pornography, and promiscuity.

These 60s holdovers are still doing the bidding of the Chi-Coms and the KGB. Same as it ever was.


16 posted on 06/28/2021 9:50:00 AM PDT by a fool in paradise (Lean on Joe Biden to follow Donald Trump's example and donate his annual salary to charity.)
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To: Red Badger

What does all this have to do with Marine Corps Units?


17 posted on 06/28/2021 10:04:03 AM PDT by Larry Lucido (Donate! Don't just post clickbait!)
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To: Kaslin
Midway through episode three of the latest MCU Disney Plus series “Loki,” a small conversation between the God of Mischief and an alternate universe version of himself called Sylvie reveals that both have a dating history of impermanent dalliances with both men and women.

Well, in mythology Loki took the form of females at times. Including getting impregnated while in the form of a mare. So completely out of left field for Loki (historically).

18 posted on 06/28/2021 10:25:19 AM PDT by pepsi_junkie (Often wrong, but never in doubt!)
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To: webheart

“Maybe by now the whole man-woman thing is worn out.”

We are going back destroying what God created before the first sin.


19 posted on 06/28/2021 10:41:51 AM PDT by alternatives?
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To: Kaslin

The actor who does the Loki career will be greatly negatively affected. His career ruined by the freaks at Marvel.
Same for the Star Trek Discovery actors besides the terrible non trek writing as they took a knee to show support for killing police they also have guys kissing each other from what I read. Same Star Trek Picard where they turned Seven of Nine into a lesbian.... I have see 3 episodes and read about the others and seen reviews. The ratings for all these shows are terrible.


20 posted on 06/28/2021 1:33:40 PM PDT by minnesota_bound (I need more money. )
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