My hot take of queerbaiting in the MCU as an old queer fan is that sooooo many people use examples that they shouldn’t when pointing out queerbaiting. Valkyrie being marketed as bi pre-release of Ragnarok is queerbaiting. St*cky not ending up together wasnt, since the actors/producers/studio didn’t actively use the “will they won’t they” in their promo. Was their coding?? Probably, but it wasn’t queerbaiting.
Young MCU fans (since I’m mostly seeing them saying it, obv not supposed to apply to ALL of them) please please PLEASE don’t throw around the word queerbait just cause your gay ship wasn’t canon 2k21
Sincerely, a tired gay-ace
Queerbaiting is a serious thing, and is still used throughout Modern Media. And as such, it is not something that should be thrown around willy-nilly. It has a meaning, where fans are encouraged to watch something based in the potential of two characters being queer and then not following through with anything more than a few jokes or wink-wink-nudge-nudge moments.
It does not mean that these series cannot be Homophobic though. It's all a scale.
It's kind of like how Lemons and Limes are both citrus fruits, both euphamisms for porn, but are fundementaly different things that should not be confused.
