Advertisement

Marvel boss promises many 'more prominent LGBT heroes'

SAN DIEGO, CA - JULY 23: Marvel Studios president and producer Kevin Feige (L) and actress Brie Larson announced as Captain Marvel/Carol Danvers attend the San Diego Comic-Con International 2016 Marvel Panel in Hall H on July 23, 2016 in San Diego, California. ©Marvel Studios 2016  (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for Disney)
Marvel Studios president and producer Kevin Feige (L) and actress Brie Larson announced as Captain Marvel/Carol Danvers attend the San Diego Comic-Con International 2016. ©Marvel Studios 2016 (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for Disney)

Marvel boss Kevin Feige has promised that the Marvel Cinematic Universe will be populated with many ‘more prominent LGBT’ superheroes in the future.

“We haven’t been shy about saying that that’s coming,” the Marvel President recently told io9. “And that there’s much more prominent LGBT heroes in the future”

Feige obviously didn’t go into specifics about when these characters might pop up in the MCU, only saying it would be “coming soon.” It has already been rumoured that The Eternals will feature an openly gay character.

Read more: Endgame almost featured first MCU f-bomb

Marvel will hopefully handle the reveal of future LGBT characters in a much better manner than it did its first.

L to R: Okoye (Danai Gurira), Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson), Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Pepper Potts in Resue Suit (Gwyneth Paltrow), Wasp (Evangeline Lilly), Mantis (Pom Klementieff), Shuri (Letitia Wright) and Nebula (Karen Gillan) - ©Marvel Studios 2019
L to R: Okoye (Danai Gurira), Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson), Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Pepper Potts in Resue Suit (Gwyneth Paltrow), Wasp (Evangeline Lilly), Mantis (Pom Klementieff), Shuri (Letitia Wright) and Nebula (Karen Gillan) - ©Marvel Studios 2019

The studio was roundly criticised for seemingly patting itself on the back after including a gay character in Avengers: Endgame, who was portrayed by co-director Joe Russo, was nameless, and will almost certainly never appear again in the MCU.

When presented with these criticisms, Feige responded, “That was never meant to be our first focused character. That was just meant to be a matter of fact and a matter of life and a matter of truth.”

STUDIO CITY, CALIFORNIA - APRIL 23:  Director Joe Russo visits 'The IMDb Show' on April 23, 2019 in Studio City, California. This episode of 'The IMDb Show' airs on April 29, 2019.  (Photo by Rich Polk/Getty Images for IMDb)
Director Joe Russo visits 'The IMDb Show' on April 23, 2019 in Studio City, California. This episode of 'The IMDb Show' airs on April 29, 2019. (Photo by Rich Polk/Getty Images for IMDb)

“And I liked it that our hero, Steve Rogers, doesn’t blink an eye at that fact. It is just truth and is heartbreaking for his loss and for the life he’s trying to put back together. It was never meant to be looked at as our first hero. I guess it’s the first reference so it does, of course, get a lot of attention.”

Read more: It was RDJ’s choice to stay silent in Endgame finale

It is very worrying to hear Feige boasting about the fact that Captain America didn’t reveal himself to be a raging homophobe, while it should also be noted that it took Marvel 11 years and 22 movies just to get to this minor point.

Considering their pop culture prominence, they need to do better. And they need to do it quickly, too.