Promotion for Loki is at a fever pitch ahead of its premiere, but for longtime fans, many of whom are celebrating Pride, one specific promo was a showstopper. As the promo reveals, the TVA's profile of Loki confirms several intriguing details about the mythic mischief-maker. But where it asks for "sex," the field where bureaucratic forms often still conflate sex and gender, it lists Loki as "fluid." As in both comics and Norse myth, this Loki doesn't adhere to simple definitions of male or female.
It's a huge detail for Loki's fans, many of whom had tempered expectations about that fact entering the Marvel Cinematic Universe. While both Disney and Marvel have made some efforts to expand representation and express a greater inclusivity in their properties, this is the first time a previously-established MCU character has been updated to reflect some of those newer changes. There's no better choice than Loki, though, and the quiet, matter-of-fact way the detail has been announced is unusually important.
Loki's first feminine appearance was in 2008's Thor issue #5. Written by J. Michael Straczynski and penciled by Oliver Coipel, this early gender-swap was the result of the still-male-identifying Loki hijacking Sif's body. Before being restored to his familiar face, Loki would also mimic the Scarlet Witch in Mighty Avengers #21-#23 by Dan Slott and Khoi Pham. It's this same Loki that would die in the Siege event, only to engineer his rebirth. But that rebirth also changed how Loki felt about his identity and his sexuality. Under Kieron Gillen's term writing Young Avengers, Loki identified himself as bisexual, if not pansexual.
When Al Ewing and Lee Garbett created Loki: Agent of Asgard in 2014, early interviews for the series confirmed that Ewing planned to lean into the gender fluidity of Loki, exploring, to some extent, what that means for the character. Agent of Asgard became a discussion of Loki's search for his own identity, gradually transforming from the God of Mischief into the God of Stories. Loki's gender identity was, in fact, an important part of this, but as a bedrock for them to say that no matter what their shape, they were always Loki. Daniel Kibblesmith and Oscar Bazaldua's Loki: The God Who Fell to Earth continued to confirm his fluid nature, and also included a scene where Loki clarified that he's perfectly fine with all pronouns in reference to himself.
It's compelling and important that Loki's genderfluid nature is so casually announced. The Variant Loki the new Disney+ series is following is reported to be on the search to understanding his own identity. Having his fluid nature be an accepted fact of his life, hopefully further remarked upon and discussed but not the heart of his internal conflict, could be a great chance to connect with fans who want society to understand that they are also more than this one important but malleable aspect of their identity.
Social media is alive with all of the potential contained in this single TVA document page, though expectations are being tempered. The confusion between sex and gender has also led to some discussion within LGBTQ+ spaces about whether or not the document reveal can actually be taken as confirmation. Given how out of date and bureaucratic the TVA appears, it's good to hold some careful doubts until the series reveals more information.
Loki stars Tom Hiddleston, Owen Wilson, Sophia Di Martino, Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Richard E. Grant. The series premieres June 9 on Disney+.