These 4 moments prove that ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ is the gayest Marvel movie yet

Light spoilers ahead for Thor: Love and Thunder…

As predicted, Thor: Love and Thunder is truly “the gayest Marvel movie yet” (and not just because of Chris Hemsworth’s divinely bare bottom).

The fourth Thor film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe finds the titular God of Thunder tracking down a killer while teamed up with his rock-warrior pal, Korg; the female Asgardian warrior, Valkyrie (played by out actress Tessa Thompson); and Thor’s ex-girlfriend, a physicist-turned-superhero named Jane Foster (played by Natalie Portman).

The film has several queer moments, though nothing as major as a same-sex on-screen kiss.

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Valkyrie mentions her former girlfriend and flirts a bit

Valkyrie is canonically bisexual in the comic book series, but her interest in women receives only a few quick nods in the latest film. It’s mentioned a few times that Valkyrie still grieves for her former Asgardian girlfriend who died in battle. This might actually explain why, when she first appeared in Thor: Ragnarok, it was as a drunken slave trapper who seemed to have little to live for.

At another point in Thor: Love and Thunder, Valkyrie seductively kisses the hand of one of Zeus’ handmaidens. Sadly, she doesn’t get the young devotee’s digits before taking off.

Later on, when Thor mentions that they don’t know “what team Jane plays for” — meaning that he wants to better understand where her loyalties lie — Vakyrie smirks and tells Thor that she’s “Team Jane.” The phrase “what team they play on” is common slang for “whether they’re straight or queer,” and Valkyrie’s comment seems to alarm Thor, as if she’s just expressed interest in his ex.

Korg reveals that all the males of his species mate with other males

When discussing love and relationships with Valkyrie, Korg reveals that, among his species, males reproduce by holding hands for a month with another male over a lava pool.

Later on in the film, Korg reveals that he has decided to start a family with another rock man named Dwayne. The film even shows Dwayne introducing himself to Korg over a lava pool, much to Korg’s delight. Dwayne even has a mustache that gives off serious Tom of Finland young-daddy vibes.

Heimdall’s child might be transgender… maybe…

If you’ve seen the previous Thor and Avengers films, you may recall Heimdall, the all-seeing Asgardian warrior who guards the interstellar Bifrost Bridge connecting Asgard to points across the galaxy. Heimdall is killed by the intergalactic supervillain Thanos in the 2018 Marvel film The Avengers: Infinity War.

However, in Thor: Love and Thunder, it’s revealed that Heimdall has a child, a young person who Heimdall named “Astrid.”  When Thor addresses the child by this name, the child demands that Thor address them as “Axl”, the name of the child’s favorite musician. The name is likely nod to Guns & Roses’ frontman Axl Rose, whose songs are played throughout the film.

While there’s nothing else in the film to suggest that Axel is transgender, it’s still a notable moment seeing as Astrid is commonly a girl’s name. Perhaps Heimdall mistakenly thought his child would be a girl, or maybe Axel was assigned female at birth. We may never know, but the child actor who plays Axel, Kieron L. Dyer, does a great job playing the self-respecting young hero regardless.

Thor definitely has a relationship with his male hammer

One of the film’s running gags is his weird relationship to his first hammer, the mythic lightning-striking Mjölnir. After Thor’s evil sister Hela breaks Mjölnir in the third Thor movie, Thor goes on to fashion a new ax-hammer hybrid named Stormbreaker in The Avengers: Infinity War.

Thor begins Love and Thunder with Stormbreaker at his side. But when he sees his ex, Jane Foster, wielding Mjölnir as the female-incarnation of Mighty Thor, it becomes apparent that the god of lightning feels weird and jealous about it. As the film continues, he tests whether he can still summon the hammer from Foster’s grasp, and he talks to the hammer affectionately and secretively as if it’s a beloved former male companion.

He calls it “buddy” and reminisces about old times they once shared together. No, it’s not gay per se, but it’s certainly a bit bromantic.

Thor has a similarly bromantic moment with Star-Lord, leader of Guardians of the Galaxy, near the beginning of the film. When Star-Lord says that he gains inspiration by gazing upon the people he loves, meaning his team of fellow Guardians, Thor makes dreamy eyes at Star-Lord, vainly presuming that Star-Lord meant him. Oh, Thor…

These moments are hardly the explicit on-screen LGBTQ representations that fans have longed to see in a Marvel movie, but perhaps the real test of these queer-coded moments will be if China and other foreign markets try to censor them from their domestic releases of the film.

Until then, here’s hoping that Valkyrie can get a proper girlfriend in the next Thor film.