Representational Queerness Within Marvel’s Loki: Liminality through Identity, Genre, and Medium

Abstract

Loki, a prominent Norse god and more recently prominent Marvel character, is entwined with an understanding of liminal queerness. Part of the broader notion of liminal queerness is its relationship to questions of identity and the self. This paper explores two divergent texts, 2014-2015’s Loki: Agent of Asgard and 2021’s Loki streaming series, that take that concept in different directions, creating a broader understanding of liminal queerness and its place in narrative spaces. The broader natures of the respective texts’ narrative, medium, and genre elements all frame and modify discussions of liminality and queerness around a given text. This modulation around the theme between two texts helps build a more complete image of how liminal queerness is entwined with Loki and what that means for liminally queer identities in broader structures.