Putting the "miss" in God of Mischief

[stubbleupdate]

Everybody has probably already seen that Loki will be pansexual and genderfluid in Marvel's new anti-hero novel series, but nobody's actually made a post on it.

The author of Marvel’s new three-book historical fiction series has revealed she is planning to write the character Loki as queer.
Author Mackenzi Lee announced the news on Twitter over the weekend, prompting a flood of support from readers excited to see an LGBT+ character portrayed in a mainstream superhero narrative. 

...
When asked whether Loki would be represented as queer in the new novel, YA author Lee replied by saying: “Loki is a canonically pansexual and gender-fluid character. So.”


There has been a bit of whinging from the comic book shithead community, to which author Mackenzi Lee responded

First, it's about time the LGBT+ community was represented in superhero narratives.
Second, in the comics, Loki is reborn as a woman & uses female pronouns & often takes on female forms like the Scarlet Witch and Lady Sif. Odin calls him "my child who is both."
(This is Odin being an uncharacteistically non-shit parent. That's the most controversial part of the whole thing.)



Loki and Thor first meet in The Mighty Thor #3,
where Loki insists he just wants to talk, but Thor knows him better than that! Will this conversation end in peace, or thunder?

Thor is confronted by a lot of Lokis. There's Cat Loki from Unstoppable Squirrel Girl, original flavour loki, Loki from Thors, Loki Agent of Asgard, current Loki, Kid Loki, Kid Loki but a frost giant, Hulk Loki, Loki from about 800AD. they do a bit of fighting, and the Lokis complain that it's all very familiar. Until...

You're right. No need to keep fighting the same battle over and over. But you are forgetting...There is one version of Thor vs. Loki we've never seen before.

Yes, it's JMS's Loki.


At this point, readers knew who Thor was, but the characters didn't





and Lady Loki gets well splatted with Mjolnir.




Loki's comic book adventures continue in the Mighty Thor, where he is part of Malekith the Fucking Prick's War of Realms, and Doctor Strange, where he is the Sorcerer Supreme, or something. I'm not reading it.

By the way, how sexual was Loki in the early days of Journey into Mystery?

Comments

[gnarll]

Loki in the myths bore children to mortal men, and once to a male horse. Marvel is only catching up. I approve.

[agharta75]

So, when do we get Horse Loki?

[cygnia]

A start...

https://briannacherrygarcia.deviantart.com/art/happy-mother-s-day-301905242

[mastermahan]

That is so damn cute.

[locuatico]

did you... by any chance... read the "AXIS" tie-ins involving Loki?

[bruinsfan]

Will you settle for Unicorn Loki?

[scorntx]

That Lee's comments suggest she's read Agent of Asgard fills me with a cautious optimism about the handling of Loki in this series.


*sigh*
I miss that Loki... Lokis? Both of 'em. Teen and Story Loki.

[bruinsfan]

We barely got God of Stories Loki before he was replaced with skeevy patchy-bearded Hiddleston Loki.

[scorntx]

I hold a faint hope that one day, as Skeevy Loki is doing something, a door will appear out of thin air, Story Loki will step out, take a look at Skeevy Loki and then just walk back in.
"No, sorry, Verity. You don't want to go out there. Trust me."

[burkeonthesly]

I'd enjoy a "What If--?" series hosted by God of Stories Loki and the Ghost of Verity Past, Present, and Goddamnit Get Me a Body Already.

[deh_tommy]

That’s not really news, is that? Isn’t that how Loki has usually been weitten in MARVEL (at least, since Young Avengers/Agent of Asgard)?

[stubbleupdate]

But Loki in Agent of Asgard wasn't starring in his own novel written by an acclaimed YA writer.

Now he is.

Ergo, News.

[deh_tommy]

Yes, but that’s one thing to announce a new MARVEL prose novel starring Loki, that’s another case to specifically announce that Loki will be written with this characterisation in mind, something which has been happening for years now (wasn’t he also a woman post-Civil War? I’m not very knowledgeable in regards to Thor books).

Heck, In the original mythology (which, admittedly, is something MARVEL usually only loosely adapts or bases ideas off of), Loki fathered numerous deities, dabbled in crossdressing and gave birth to a horse. He changes gender in the above scans. Wouldn’t that be sort of akin to saying “Captain America is anti-authoritarian in this new novel”?

[stubbleupdate]

It's pinknews, not cbr. Can you understand that their reporting focus will be on LGBT representation, rather than consistent characterisation over several decades of publication history?

And Loki "being a woman" is not the same as being genderfluid pansexual. This is a strong declaration from a creator that supports what has been considered implicit for a while.

[lieut_kettch]

Yeah, doesn’t seem like they’re implying that it was Lee’s idea to write Loki as pansexual and genderfluid rather than it being the status quo for at least the past five years?

[aperturedreams]

Even before that Loki was a woman during Dark Reign.

[stubbleupdate]

Even before that, Loki was a woman during JMS's Thor run

[featheredserpent]

Who wants some Turkish Delight?

[endis_ni]

...

EDMUND, RUN!

[every_spiegel]

Is this author good, has anyone read her work?
It's positive she knows this part of Loki's characterization but it's nearly not enough imo.

(Also, you should check "Doctor Strange", it's already ways better than "The Mighty Thor".)

[beyondthefringe]

I haven't read her yet, but she has extremely good reviews for her book on Goodreads and Amazon, and her work deals with queer characters. It got a number of starred reviews, including one from Publishers Weekly, which means I'm likely to trust it as being good.

If she was writing for comics as a newcomer, I might be worried; we've seen what happens when novelists try to write comics without training, like with the current run of America. But since she's doing Loki in prose, and wants to call back to his shapeshifting, gender-shifting, and pansexual ways... well, color me highly interested.

I, too, want God of Stories back.

[every_spiegel]

That sounds reassuring, thanks!

[long_silence]

"often takes on female forms like the Scarlet Witch and Lady Sif"

I wouldn't say he took on Sif's form so much as he stole her body during a reincarnation cycle.

[goattoucher]

Am I a bad guy for hoping that the day will come soon where this news evokes neither "OMG YAY!" nor "OMG HOMOGAYS R IN UR COMIX!"?

That one day we can respond to "[popular character] being portrayed as [LGBTQ+ spectrum] in upcoming product!" with "Oh? Cool."

[thanekos]

That level of normalization'd have to happen organically.

It'll be a long time before that comes.

[goattoucher]

We need to keep the dream alive, I guess.

Maybe when we're old(er) people will start minding their own business and stop giving a shit about this sort of thing.

[shadowpsykie]

i'm confused... when did lady loki and Lady Thor meet? wasn't he young/hiddleson loki by the time she was around?

also when did Odin say "My child who is both"

[every_spiegel]

That was during The Mighty Thor run, if I recall correctly.

And Odin's words are from Original Sin: Thor & Loki, The Tenth Realm #5.

[malitia]

1) In the beginning of Aaron's The Mighty Thor (so after Secret Wars 2015) Loki did a self-duplication thing as their other versions when meeting Jane!Thor. One of those was Lady!Loki.

2) In the 5th issue of the Original Sin tie-in mini (Thor&Loki: The Tenth Realm) and also in Loki: Agent of Asgard #11.

[stubbleupdate]

I didn't think I could have made it clearer in the post. I even included a link so that you could buy the issue and explained the scene.

Do people just ignore the words on posts and look at the pictures?

[lonewolf23k]

Mythological Loki was genderfluid LONG before it went mainstream.

[penguinzero]

Meanwhile, in this week's Squirrel Girl, she crosses paths with Loki, and he refers to himself as genderfluid. Probably was written well before word of Lee's plans got around, but it shows that she and North are pretty much on the same page. (Which is pretty close to how the original myths show him anyway.)