Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige was recently asked by a fan whether there were any plans for more LGBT characters in Marvel’s films, “specifically the T, trans characters”. To this Kevin responded in affirmation saying, “Yes, absolutely, and very soon. In a movie that we’re shooting right now,” he revealed during a Q&A at the New York Film Academy, reported the BBC.
This year, The Eternals will introduce Marvel movies’ first gay character. There have been reports since 2019 that Phase 4 of the MCU – the films following the Avengers Infinity saga will star a transgender character.
In addition to this, Marvel has also said it will introduce its first deaf superhero in The Eternals and its first Asian-American superhero, in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. “You look at the success of Captain Marvel and Black Panther. We want the movies to reflect the audience and we want every member of our global audience to see themselves reflected on screen,” Feige had quoted previously.
In July last year, Geeks Worldwide suggested that Marvel was seeking a transgender woman for a project being filmed in 2020. They pointed out that the only existing trans superhero in Marvel Comics is the recently introduced Sera – from a group of all-male angels called the Ancharites – who transitioned to a female identity.
She exists very much in Thor’s world – being kept inside a temple in the realm of Heven before meeting Thor’s long-lost half-sister Angela, going on a bunch of adventures and eventually becoming her romantic interest. However, the next Thor film, Love and Thunder, is scheduled to come out in 2021.
Tessa Thompson’s character Valkyrie – who was made the King of New Asgard by Thor in the last Avengersfilm – revealed what the “first order of business” would be for her in the film. “As new king, she needs to find her queen,” she said. In the comics Valkyrie identifies as bisexual.
Before that film comes out The Eternals – about an ancient race of super-powered beings who gained powers from alien experiments – is being released in November. It stars Angelina Jolie, Game of Thrones’ Richard Madden and Kit Harington, Kumail Nanjiani, Salma Hayek and Brian Tyree Henry, among others.
Kevin Feige confirmed that the film would star Marvel’s first gay character. “He’s married, he’s got a family, and that is just part of who he is,” he said last year.
