Marvel Studios will be delivering on its promise to include more LGBTQ characters in phase 4 of its cinematic universe, specifically trans characters.
According to Pink News, Marvel head Kevin Feige appeared at a Q&A event at the New York Film Academy where he said “absolutely, yes” in response to a question about any new trans characters in the upcoming slate of movies.
“He explained that a queer and/or trans character would be arriving ‘very soon, in a movie that we’re shooting right now,'” reports Pink News. “When asked by another audience member whether the successes of ‘Black Panther’ and ‘Captain Marvel’ would open the door to further diversity, Feige said that this ‘was always the plan for us.'”
Feige’s admission appears to confirm a July 2019 casting call for a trans woman of any ethnicity in their twenties or thirties, whom Geeks WorldWide speculated to be the character Sera – the universe’s only existing trans woman superhero. Prior to that, Marvel’s “The Eternals” will introduce the universe’s first openly gay superhero, Phastos, who will be married to a man, and will be portrayed by actor Brian Tyree Henry.
Previously, actress Tessa Thompson, who played Valkyrie in “Thor: Ragnarok,” said that her character could possibly be the first LGBTQ character in the MCU depending on where they take her sexuality.
“As new king [of Asgard], she needs to find her queen. That will be the first order of business,” said Thompson during a Comic-Con panel.
In “Avengers: Endgame,” the character Thor declared Valkyrie the new queen of Asgard. Ever since her character appeared in “Ragnarok,” Thompson has pressed the point that Valkyrie’s sexuality swings both ways. In fact, the hit movie had a deleted LGBTQ scene in which Valkyrie was shown to be bisexual when a female lover leaves her bedroom. Thompson said the film’s director Taika Waititi wanted to keep the scene but was forced to cut it.
“He kept it in the film as long as he could; eventually the bit had to be cut because it distracted from the scene’s vital exposition,” Thompson explained to Rolling Stone.
The latest “Avengers” installment, however, did break new ground with the inclusion of Grieving Man (played by co-director Joe Russo), who was seen at the very beginning telling Steve Rogers about a man he was dating. However, LGBTQ activists took the character as Marvel’s cheap attempt at diversity.
“As disappointing as [previous] missed opportunities for queer representation were, none of them stung anywhere nearly as much as the Grieving Man’s introduction inadvertently does, because his presence comes across like an inconsequential afterthought, and it doesn’t help matters that the Russos and Marvel appear to be quite pleased with the creative decision,” wrote Charles Pullman at Gizmodo.
“Spider-Man” actor Tom Holland also recently told Britain’s Sunday Times that he would be open to his character being openly gay in the future.
“I can’t talk about the future of the character because honestly I don’t know and it’s out of my hands,” Holland told the outlet. “But I do know a lot about the future of Marvel, and they are going to be representing lots of different people in the next few years.
“The world isn’t as simple as a straight white guy,” he continued. “It doesn’t end there, and these films need to represent more than one type of person.”