LGBTQ rights are an important part of modern society and that has, absolutely, translated to modern-day popular culture. Now, while there are works that are openly portraying the life of LGBTQ characters, there are some characters in larger franchises whose sexual orientation has been a question of debate. Marvel’s Loki is one of such characters and taking into consideration the recent happenings, we have decided to finally settle the score when Loki’s orientation is concerned!
Loki’s sexuality has been a question of debate for a long time, but Marvel has recently confirmed that Loki is both pansexual and gender-fluid. This has been established as being comic book canon and has been translated into the MCU as well.
In today’s article, you’re going to find out everything you need to know about Loki’s sexual orientation. You’re going to find out what he is, exactly and precisely, as well as information about his private life, such as whom he likes and whether he has a gender or not. You’re also going to find out how Loki’s sexuality is connected to the actor who’s portraying him in the MCU, Tom Hiddleston. It’s going to be a very interesting article so keep reading!
Is Loki bisexual?
Now, if you were to dig into the history of Loki within Marvel’s comics, you’d see that his sexuality is really a question that has often been discussed within the comic books and within the fandom. It was never truly vital for the character’s development in the narrative sense, but from a personal perspective, this question has come under the spotlight in recent years.
If you browse through the history of the issue, you’ll find that there are two groups. One vehemently states that Loki is straightforwardly heterosexual and that all the innuendos present throughout the comics were just jokes and nothing serious. The other group states that Loki is and has always been bisexual, if not pansexual (this depends on the individual, but the second group certainly describes him as being queer in one way or the other).
The first group’s arguments lie within the mainstream, yet historical canon in which Loki’s partners were, in the predominant majority of cases, women. Loki has even been married at one point, although he abused and mistreated his wife, and had children, which, of course, resulted in people believing that he was, despite all the allusions, heterosexual.
If you just consider these facts, there should be no dilemma, but the problem arises when you consider the fact that Loki’s history has been more than colorful. He himself has, in one comic book, confirmed that Asgardians don’t really observe sexuality in the same way as humans, and it is a well-known fact that he has fathered a lot of creatures (such as Fenrir and Jordmungand) in Odin knows what shapes and sizes, but the first group still believes him to be heterosexual.
The other group, of course, takes into consideration the implicit and explicit allusions and innuendos present within the comic books, including the fact mentioned in the sentence above. For them, these allusions, although they have rarely been outwardly confirmed, are in fact true and they confirm their standpoint that Loki is at least bisexual, if not pansexual. So, what is true then?
Luckily for us, Marvel has settled the issue and we have a canon answer – Loki is, in fact, not only bisexual, but rather pansexual.
The whole story started back in 2014, when writer Al Ewing said the following: “Yes, Loki is bi and I’ll be touching on that. He’ll shift between genders occasionally as well.” Ewing, who wrote Loki: Agent of Asgard, made Loki bisexual and gender-fluid, but more on that later.
Now, Loki’s bisexuality was confirmed back in 2014, but Marvel went even further – which was a great thing and completely in line with his development as a character – as, some years later, a Young Avengers storyline was written by Mackenzie Lee not only reaffirmed what Ewing had written several years before, but also expanded on it.
Namely, Lee went even further into exploring Loki’s sexuality, confirming via Twitter, that Loki was not only bisexual but in fact pansexual. Since then, there have been several stories confirming this, most of which focused on Loki’s gender fluidity, which is an issue we are going to discuss below.
This has, of course, been confirmed to be true in the MCU, as everyone probably knows, since Loki’s confession that he is, in fact, bisexual, was one of the biggest news in MCU history. After sharing a personal conversation with Sylvie, Loki confirmed that he has had both princesses and princes throughout his life, thereby confirming his bisexuality. The MCU still isn’t as direct as the comics, but who knows what the future might hold for Loki.
As for some examples, the comic books are full of them. A notable example is when he put his half-brother Thor in a dress and then flirted with him… well, in a way, at least. It wasn’t actual flirting, no, but Loki did come really close to actually hitting on his own brother in a dress. Another example is from the time when he took the body of Scarlet Witch.
Namely, in her body, Loki actually kissed a guy, who was – of course – absolutely clueless as to what was going on. Now, one might argue that he was female and that this is not an example of his pansexuality, but Loki only changed his shape (the body) in this instance, not his perception of his own persona and his sexuality, so it was still him – as a male character – kissing another male character.
Is Loki bisexual in real life?
As far as the actor who portrays Loki in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is concerned, as far as we know, Tom Hiddleston is not bisexual. He is, as far as is known, heterosexual and has had two known relationship, one with fellow actress Susannah Fielding, which ended in 2016, and a highly publicized, yet short-lived relationship with singer Taylor Swift.
Does Loki have a gender?
Loki is a male character, that much is obvious from his initial portrayals and from his original looks. But, as he is special, this is also not a fact written in stone, but rather something that has been questioned and changed throughout the years.
Namely, going back to Al Ewing, the guy not only made Loki bisexual, he also made him gender fluid. Now, that wasn’t such a big deal as Loki had already been described as a shapeshifter, but Ewing made this fact a bit more precise, and Mackenize Lee later confirmed it in her stories.
There are several direct examples where Loki’s shapeshifting resulted in him being a woman. During the so-called Lady Loki period, when Loki took over Lady Sif’s body, at one point he even became the Scarlet Witch, which is a clear example of his sexual and gender fluidity.
These are certainly not the only examples when he changed his gender (as you’re going to see in the section below), and this is also a confirmation of the fact – which Loki himself has confirmed – that Asgardians have a very different perception of sexuality, gender included.
Who is Loki’s love interest?
As to Loki’s love life, we know it is quite rich and very intricate. We know that he had a wife and we also know that he fathered a lot of strange creatures, as we’ve mentioned above. This means that it is truly impossible to determine all of his love interests. We assume that most of them haven’t even been identified in the comics, but only mentioned.
Now, as for the MCU, Loki’s love interest is certainly Sylvie, his female variant that appeared in the Loki television series. This wasn’t really said outwardly, but it’s absolutely clear that the two bonded and developed romantic feelings for each other; the only weird thing about this is that they’re both different iterations of the same character, but Loki’s certainly been through weirder stuff.
When asked about the future, director Kate Herron expressed hope that Loki would have a male interest in the future, saying:
“Basically I don’t know plans for the future with Loki — I’m so focused on this story. But I would say that part of my thinking was, well, if it’s canon and it’s acknowledged, then yeah I hope there’s obviously more road to travel with that aspect of his personality. And I hope it has opened the door to more stories, definitely.”
– Kate Herron
