Eternals Sprite Can Be The MCUs Chance To Fix Its Loki Identity Problem

Eternals’ Sprite Can Be The MCU’s Chance To Fix Its Loki Identity Problem

The MCU acknowledged that Loki is genderfluid, but did not include it in the series. Eternals’ Sprite could be the solution to this representation.

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Eternals Sprite Can Be The MCUs Chance To Fix Its Loki Identity Problem

Warning: Contains spoilers for Eternals.

With Loki, the MCU began to expand its LGBTQ+ representation by confirming that an existing character was non-binary, but Eternals gives them a chance to better explore gender identity and fix the problems with the portrayal of Loki. Eternals made headlines by announcing that it included the first openly gay superhero of the MCU with Phastos. However, the movie went further than that and provided representation for more of the queer spectrum.

When Disney+ released Loki, eagle-eyed viewers spotted that Loki’s gender is listed as fluid on his TVA profile. This was heralded as a triumph for the MCU as they finally acknowledged the canonically non-binary identity of Loki. However, it was never properly raised in the series, with Loki’s variant Sylvie seemingly taking the place of exploring Loki’s genderfluidity. In Eternals, Phastos (Bryan Tyree Henry) and his husband (Haaz Sleiman) are the only explicitly LGBTQ+ characters. However, several other figures provide a more subtle representation of the queer community.

In Eternals, the character of Sprite (Lia McHugh) is written as cisgender; however, her character is set up in such a way that she represents a queer narrative and is open to queer reads. Sprite uses she/her pronouns but tends to present in a more masculine way and could easily be revealed to be non-binary or transmasculine. While Sprite is thousands of years old, she was created by the Celestials to have a child’s body and resents what she sees as a mistake. A driving part of her story arc is her resentment of her body and the apparent dysphoria she feels from being trapped in a body that makes society see her in a way that is antithetical to her own perception of herself. With Sprite’s future in the MCU, the franchise can address an issue previously caused by Loki’s identity problem.

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This queer read of Eternals is particularly supported by Sprite’s present-day introduction. Sprite is seen using her powers to present an appearance that is more in line with her own idea of self so that she can move in the world in a way that feels more natural to her. This is then built upon in her resentment of her unrequited love for Ikaris, which she feels is unreciprocated, at least in part due to her own physical form.

The Marvel comics that Eternals is based on also suggest that this interpretation might be more than just a queer read. Since their inception in the 1970s, Sprite has been depicted as male, female, and genderfluid, with the character taking advantage of opportunities to change their appearance. At one point in the comics, Ikaris has to go as far as to explain this process to Tony Stark to elaborate on why Sprite now looks different and is using different pronouns.

At the end of Eternals, Sprite is left alive but stripped of her powers to age as a mortal. Additionally, any Eternal could potentially return in a new form as they are effectively machines. This means that it is likely that the MCU will revisit the character of Sprite in the future. While they have yet to address Loki’s gender properly, they now have two future opportunities to improve upon this representation and make queer identities more explicit within the main body of their content.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/eternals-sprite-genderfluid-nonbinary-loki-identity-problem-fix/

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