Marvel Studios has used She-Hulk: Attorney at Law to add a lot of new characters to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Some hail from the comic books, while others are original creations (such as Ginger Gonzaga's Nikki Ramos).
During this week's fourth episode of the Disney+ series, Jennifer Walters attempts to navigate the tricky world of online dating. Nikki lends her best friend a hand and, at one point, remarks that "hetero life is grim." That's led to a lot of speculation about her sexuality, but Gonzaga has now confirmed, via TV Line, that the character is indeed part of the LGBTQ+ community.
"I wish that we got to more. Nikki is definitely queer, she's free, she'll love anyone," the actress confirms. "I thought of her initially as being bi, because I'm kind of projecting myself onto this character. But in truth I think Nikki will love anyone – and she can hang with anyone, which is fun."
"She can hang with villains, and she can all of a sudden convince them to get on her side. She can charm herself out of any situation. There are no rules for Nikki, which is a nice balance with Jen Walters."
"I wish we got to see her dating more, but I will say she has a bit of a secret crush on [Renée Elise Goldsberry's] Mallory, which we'll see," Gonzaga added. "Nikki doesn't have any problems dating, so we're trying to focus on what needs to happen, which is getting Jen to love herself in both forms and finally go on some decent dates."
Marvel Studios has been a tad hit and miss with representation since Phase 4 began, but without the restrictions presented by theatrical releases, this is something we hope to see explored more on Disney+. Gonzaga's comments point to us learning more about her status as a queer woman in future episodes, anyway, so that should be fun over the coming weeks.
As for Mallory, that's Mallory Book, one of Jen's biggest rivals in the comic books. She's only appeared once in the show so far, but it does sound like that's about to change.
The first four episodes of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law are now streaming on Disney+.