There are two types of people in this world: those who write off superhero villains as all-around baddies, and those who want to conduct a deep-dive into why, and how, these super-villains started doing all this villainous, uh, stuff. If you're a member of the latter group, we've got some great news: your favorite Marvel universe anti-heroes are getting their own book series. We're pretty amped, too.
In a statement posted on Twitter earlier today, YA author Mackenzi Lee, whose summer 2017 novel The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue was a New York Times' Best-seller, announced that she'll be penning a three-book historical fiction series spotlighting the life and times of the Marvel Universe's most popular anti-heroes, the guys and gals we all love to hate. First up? Loki, God of Mischief and adopted brother of Thor (you know, the Hammer Guy?), famously brought to life on the big screen by British hunk Tom Hiddleston.
With an academic background in history and young adult literature, as well as a penchant for contemporary interpretations of classic stories, Lee seems to be the perfect voice for this anti-hero undertaking. Her debut novel, This Monstrous Thing, was a re-telling of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, set in an alternate world where some men are made with clock parts and a pair of brothers, Alisdair and Oliver, must race against the clock (get it?) to figure out the real Dr. Frankenstein's secret to resurrection.
Lee's more recent novel, The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue, stars a young, bisexual British lord (Henry “Monty” Montague) as he embarks on a disastrous Grand Tour of Europe with his best pal/secret crush, Percy. 18th century queer-love-adventure-romp? Uh, yeah. Sign us up.
Though there's no word yet on the plot of Lee's Loki-centric novel, we can only hope that she'll further investigate the ancient Nordic god's history of gender fluidity and rumored bisexuality. As a shape-shifting troublemaker, Loki, in Norse mythology, was known to transform into women and female animals.
In 2013, the Daily Beast published an article detailing comic writer Al Ewing's Tumblr announcement that, at least on paper, Loki would be portrayed as a queer, gender fluid character. Though Ewing's post has since been deleted, Hiddleston has spoken briefly on Ewing's portrayal of Loki and, unsurprisingly, he was all for it, saying it brought empathetic depth to Loki and furthered his distinction as a character unable to fit into one particular box.
The first book Lee's series will hit shelves in Spring 2019 as part of Disney's literary imprint.
