Marvel Working On A Gay Superhero Movie?
Marvel continues to push boundaries with their movie universe. And the latest rumor has them developing an openly gay superhero
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Marvel has broken down a bunch of different walls through the years since they first hit the scene back in 2008 with Iron Man. Though the franchise began *conventional* enough, over the many years they’ve continued to want to push forward a theme of inclusivity as well as making sure they didn’t necessarily stick to standard norms for their casting of characters. It’s something they are only leaning into more these days with new shows and initiatives. The latest rumor, this time from insider Daniel Richtman, is that one of the next Marvel projects will have an openly gay superhero at the center of the story.
It’s unclear who this superhero would be or how the sexuality of the character would fit the theme and plot of the film. Some Marvel movies, in the past, have had love interests at the center of the plot, but that needn’t always be the case with their films. There are plenty in the Marvel Cinematic Universe that eschew that plot device altogether, simply opting for more action and adventure rather than bogging the characters down with some love interest. Captain Marvel, Thor: Ragnarok, and basically all of the “team-up” films come to mind in this respect.
This new Marvel rumor also doesn’t specify if this superhero would be male or female. That’s led to speculation about if it will be just a new character or some insight into an already established name in the universe. In the comic book universe, there are a number of established LGBTQ characters already. Some are already present in the universe, but many haven’t necessarily overlapped with what we’ve seen on screen so far. A few of the notable ones come from certain iterations of the X-Men group, who will be coming in the Marvel Cinematic Universe fold sooner than later. Those include Iceman, Kitty Pryde, Psylocke, and Mystique who have all identified as gay in more recent publications.
Other notable characters who already have appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and have identified in the comic books include Valkyrie and Loki. Also, Hercules from the Eternals has identified as gay in the comic books which could be part of that upcoming film. And finally, some fans have wanted this to be a direction for Captain Marvel since the first movie with Brie Larson. According to some recent rumors, she’s pushing for an all-female cast for the upcoming Captain Marvel 2. She has an inclusion rider in her contract that pushes for more gender and racial diversity in her films.
Again, Marvel has such a wide range of characters and storylines at this point, that basically anything is possible. And with new Marvel rumors hitting the wire nearly every hour these days, it stands to reason this latest bit could involve some character we’ve never even considered. That’s the nature of this massive franchise at this point. They have such a huge catalog to work with and they are leaving no stone unturned. I’m sure we’ll hear more about this latest one as they continue to push new development options.
