Marvel Studios Boss Kevin Feige Addresses LGBT Lead Rumors for Eternals Movie
Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige recently addressed the LGBT lead rumors for Marvel’s upcoming Eternals movie directed by Chloe Zhao.
That Hashstag Show sparked the rumor indicating Marvel Studios was looking for “an openly gay male as a lead” that “physically looks like a superhero.”
Feige addressed not only the rumor, but if fans can expect LGBTQ heroes in the future. He answered a question from io9 at a recent press junket for Avengers: Endgame.
“Well it’s accurate in that we’ve talked about [it for] a long time. 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 the screen. And that’s what we’ve been doing for a long time. And certainly, that’s what we’re focusing on going forward.”
He previously commented about incorporating LGBT heroes while talking with ET. He noted the idea was “percolating.” Marvel Studios’ Chief of Production Victoria Alonso already recently stated at the Captain Marvel premiere that “the world is ready for an LGBT superhero.”
Feige’s statement doesn’t really confirm nor deny the rumor. But reiterates that Marvel Studios appears to be having internal discussions about incorporating LGBT characters as well as LGBT actors.
In fact, last June, Feige promised the Marvel Cinematic Universe would introduce LGBTQ characters in their upcoming films. While speaking with The Playlist, Feige noted that LGBTQ characters would be “both ones you’ve seen and ones you haven’t seen.”
Feige and Alonso’s comments have faced pushback. A petition from Life Site News has demanded that Marvel Studios “not indoctrinate children with homosexual ideology” in Eternals. The petition has been signed by over 10,000 people.
Marvel’s LGBT Characters
Marvel has quite a list of LGBT characters they could include. The character who is getting the most chatter recently is Hercules. MCU Cosmic reports that Hercules will be the male lead in Eternals and he will be “Marvel’s first openly gay lead.” Hercules isn’t gay in the main Marvel-616 universe, but an alternate dimension version of the character does have a relationship with James Howlett.
There has also been quite a bit of chatter that Tessa Thompson’s Valkyrie might indeed be one of the characters Feige is referring to that might be an LGBT character. Actress Tessa Thompson indicated in a Rolling Stone interview that a scene hinting that Valkyrie is bisexual was cut from Thor: Ragnarok. Thompson stated, “There were things that we talked about that we allowed to exist in the characterization, but maybe not be explicit in the film.” She added, “There’s a great shot of me falling back from one of my sisters who’s just been slain. In my mind, that was my lover.”
As for other new characters, it’s possible Marvel could introduce Hulkling. He’s the son of Mar-Vell and the Skrull Emperor’s daughter in the comics. Given the newly released Captain Marvel movie introduced both Mar-Vell and the Skrulls it’s possible Hulkling might actually be in the Marvel Cinematic Universe already. He might have been what we thought was one of the Skrull children.
Hulkling was a main member of the Young Avengers first appearing in Young Avengers #1 back in 2005. Recent reports indicate Marvel is already moving ahead with another member of the Young Avengers in Kate Bishop, who is expected to show up in a Hawkeye series on Disney+. It’s possible Marvel could be working on introducing the Young Avengers sometime in the future.
Probably the most famous LGBT character from Marvel is Northstar. Unfortunately, he’s a mutant and part of the X-Men and Feige indicated he doesn’t plan on introducing the X-Men into the Marvel Cinematic Universe any time soon. That rules out a number of other X-Men including recently retconned Iceman, Daken, Anole, Karma, and others.
What do you make of Kevin Feige’s comments? Are there any LGBTQ heroes you want to see in the Marvel Cinematic Universe?
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