In the past few weeks there’s been a slight case of trying to appreciate the crumbs being thrown at us, with the baby steps the Marvel cinematic universe has made towards LGBT inclusion in Thor: Ragnarok. First it was noticed that Korg – a character who’s gay in the comics – would be in the movie, and then actress Tessa Thompson confirmed that her character, Valkyrie, is bisexual.

However, while all that’s been nice to know, there was little in the actual movie to suggest these characters were LGBT.

Things could have been different though, as Rolling Stone reports that Thompson, ‘convinced [director Taika] Waititi to shoot a glimpse of a woman walking out of Valkyrie’s bedroom. He kept it in the film as long as he could; eventually the bit had to be cut because it distracted from the scene’s vital exposition.’

“There were things that we talked about that we allowed to exist in the characterization, but maybe not be explicit in the film,” says Thompson.

However, she adds that there is one moment where Valkyrie’s same sex attractions are very subtly hinted towards, when she reacts to the death of one of her fellow female warriors. “There’s a great shot of me falling back from one of my sisters who’s just been slain,” says Thompson. “In my mind, that was my lover.”

All this is unlikely to stop the criticism of Marvel/Disney for making the MCU so straight. There have been no unequivocally LGBT characters in the films (at least in terms of what we’ve actually seen), and only relatively minor representation in the TV series. As Disney has been routinely criticised by the likes of GLAAD for the lack of LGBT in its film output, the calls for more presentation in Marvel movies has been growing.

Back in September there was a bit of excitement over whether Thor: Ragnarok would feature the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s first gay character. This was based on the fact that the movie features Korg, who in the mid-2000s Planet Hulk series of comics (which Ragnarok is partially based on), Korg was in a same-sex relationship with a fellow male warrior called Hiroim.

Now, it turns out there may be another LGBT characters in the movie, as Tessa Thompson has announced on Twitter that her baddass character, Valkyrie, is ‘bi. And yes, she cares very little about what men think of her. What a joy to play!’

However, before we get over-exicted, it should be added that there’s nothing in the movie that would definitely says either Korg or Valkyrie is LGBT. While there’s also nothing to contradict it, whether Valkyrie likes boys, girls or all genders certainly doesn’t play into the storyline of the movie. One hope we can have though is that she appears to be a character Marvel is considering making more of in the post-Avengers: Infinity War universe, and if they do it will give them the chance to explore her sexuality in more depth.

Although it appears Thompson and/or the makers decided to take the character’s sexuality into account in the choices she made as an actor, after many years of criticism about the lack of queer representation in the Marvel universel, we’re still only talking about very tiny baby steps here.

She’s bi. And yes, she cares very little about what men think of her. What a joy to play! https://t.co/d0LZKTHCfL

— Tessa Thompson (@TessaThompson_x) October 21, 2017