Tessa Thompson Describes Valkyrie's 'Quite Erotic' Superpowers – Love And Thunder, Indeed
If you've lamented the distinct and much-documented lack of sexiness in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (I know I have!), here's a titillating sip of news to quench your thirst. Tessa Thompson spoke about Valkyrie's role in "Thor: Love and Thunder" this week, and she described her hero's powers as "erotic."
Thompson sat down with W Magazine for a profile that touched upon her "Love and Thunder" role. As you may remember from 2017's "Thor: Ragnarok," Val is a legendary fighter who drowns her sorrows in alcohol after witnessing the deaths of her all-women fighting force at the hands of Hela (Cate Blanchett). She teams up with Thor for a haphazard adventure, and was last seen taking over Thor's role as ruler of Asgard at the end of "Avengers: Endgame." Though her character's queer identity was pushed off into Phase 4, she still quickly became a fan favorite among LGBTQ+ fans–and Marvel fans at large.
We're Entering Sexy Trope Territory
Now, Thompson is finally giving some insight into what's next for Val, outlining her superpowers for the first time. "She can sense when someone is close to death, and she takes them into Valhalla, which is essentially the afterlife," Thompson says. So far, so platonic. But apparently, Val is also prone to body swap shenanigans, which any fanfiction reader (or erstwhile "The X-Files" watcher) knows can be one of the cheekiest moves in the trope book. "She can revive people," Thompson tells W, "But when she revives people, sometimes she ends up in their body. It's a weird thing. It can be quite erotic."
As someone who is a "Thor: Ragnarok" fan first and a Marvel fan second (if at all), I've been surviving on crumbs of plot information about this movie for years, but nothing has been as exciting as this tidbit. Director Taika Waititi, who is known for allowing his actors to go so off-script that he may as well be a credited writer too, has previously called "Thor: Love and Thunder" the "craziest" movie he's ever made. In a quote to Empire, he said, "If you wrote down all the elements of this film, it shouldn't make sense."
This tracks, both with Waititi's own previous raucous take on the MCU and with Thompson's new reveal about Val's powers. In addition to her role as afterlife courier, sometimes resurrector, and accidental sexy-body-swapper, Thompson also says Val "has superhuman strength and is essentially a God." This sounds fantastic. If you need me, I'll be sitting in line outside the theater until July.
"Thor: Love and Thunder" is scheduled for a theatrical release July 8, 2022.