It's official: She-Hulk's Nikki Ramos is one of the MCU's few LGBTQ+ characters. The Marvel show confirmed her queerness with one quick, clever line (much like how Loki did in Loki) in episode 4, and now, actor Ginger Gonzaga has explained why it was "so important" for her sexuality to be established – albeit briefly – onscreen.
In the latest installment, titled 'Is This Not Real Magic?', Jennifer Walters (Tatiana Maslany) agrees to test out a dating app, in the hope that it'll turn her disappointing love life around. While kicking back at The Legal Ease, their go-to bar, one evening, Nikki takes it upon herself to set her up her bestie's online profile – and has a cheeky look at some of the men who pop up. "Oof, hetero life is grim," she teases while swiping, suggesting that she has more options when it comes to potential suitors.
"It was so special to me," Gonzaga tells Total Film of the line's inclusion. "That's her. That’s her, that's me, that's what we want for Nikki and that's how I was playing it. It's just so important for everything that Nikki is. She's always trying to tell Jen to be more free, she's always telling Jen to embrace her uniqueness and her different-ness.
"For Nikki, she already knows who she is and what she'll love, and she doesn't have any boundaries or hold herself back. She doesn't have any rules for herself. Nikki is the kind of person who, if someone says something dumb, she's going to call them out and I think that's something we always want to be able to do in life. I love that she's so unafraid and based in love. It was very important to me, and very important to Tatiana, too."
Gonzaga is fast to admit that Nikki's romantic endeavours aren't really explored further in the show – with just nine 35-minute episodes, the focus is very much on Jen. But she's a big fan of how the series highlights what it's like to be single beyond your 20s.
"I just love that they’re two characters navigating dating in their 30s," she gushes. "For me, I’ve dated men and I’ve dated women, I didn't date women until I was in my 30s, and I love that, so I love that the show explores the experiences of people our age."
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law continues next Thursday (September 15) on Disney Plus. To ensure you don't miss an episode, check out our She-Hulk release schedule, or work out where the show fits within the MCU with our Marvel timeline.
