Since 2019’s Spider-Man: Far From Home, no Marvel movie made either by Sony or Marvel Studios has gotten the green light from Chinese censorship bodies. Every MCU film since Black Widow has been blocked by Chinese censors, with both Venom: Let There Be Carnage and Morbius suffering the same fate. As to why that has been the case, while the Chinese government doesn’t explicitly state its motives, it’s been speculated many of these decisions have been due to instances of LGBTQ representation, backslash against the people participating in the films, or what the country sees as an unfavorable mix of culture and politics.
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Now, according to The Hollywood Reporter, in Thor: Love and Thunder’s case, Chinese censors are unlikely to ever grant Taika Waititi’s film a future release date due to a couple of scenes involving LGBTQ themes around characters like Valkyrie and Korg. The depiction of LGBTQ narratives in China is mostly prohibited, with the country only having decriminalized homosexuality in 1997 and health authorities backing down on its classification as a mental disorder as recently as 2011. Still, the Chinese Communist Party has gone as far as demanding less effeminate men in video games.
Thor: Love and Thunder’s controversial scenes would be those seemingly confirming Valkyrie as bisexual and Korg to be fathering a child with another male Kronan. This is much like Eternals containing a gay couple and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness featuring América Chávez, yet another LGBTQ superhero. In Eternals’ case, however, that adds up to China censoring all references to director Chloe Zhao due to remarks she made criticizing the government of her native country.
One thing is for sure, China’s list of reasons to ban Marvel movies has grown considerably since the Infinity Saga ended. For example, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings had to deal with unapproved depictions of Chinese mythology as well as negative comments from Simu Liu about China’s government, similarly to Venom: Let There Carnage star Tom Hardy. For Black Widow, it was brief mentions of communism and in No Way Home’s case it was the mere fact that the Statue of Liberty is part of the final battle, perhaps suggesting China simply no longer wants the MCU’s cultural influence within its borders.
On the bright side, Disney’s decision to sacrifice Thor’s profits and not cater to Chinese censors seems to have had a more positive effect on audiences in the rest of the world. A similar concept was proven by blockbuster films like Top Gun: Maverick.
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Source: The Hollywood Reporter
