Marvel may be slow with firsts, but it’s finally making strides. Black Panther marked the cinematic universe’s first film with a mostly black cast; Captain Marvel was the first stand-alone film for a female superhero, starring Brie Larson. Now, Larson would like Marvel brass to broaden its inclusionary palette at a faster clip—including, but not limited to, having a superhero who’s part of the L.G.B.T.Q.I.A. community.
In an interview with Variety’sMarc Malkin, Larson said it broke her heart to hear the interviewer say that when he was growing up, he did not think there would ever be a gay superhero on the big screen.
“That breaks my heart to hear that, because there’s no reason,” Larson replied. “I don’t understand how you could think that a certain type of person isn’t allowed to be a superhero. So to me it’s like, we gotta move faster. But I’m always wanting to move faster with this stuff.”
Larson has openly advocated for more inclusion in the film industry at large in the last few years, calling out the lack of diversity in film criticism and speaking freely about how she deals with the industry’s egregious wage gap. She continued in the interview, saying that just being Captain Marvel wasn’t enough in terms of representation. “It wasn’t enough for me to just look strong on a poster; it needed to extend further than that,” she said. “I feel like I can’t at the end of the day go to sleep at night if I didn’t do everything that I possibly could.”
Marvel producer Victoria Alonso has previously said the “world is ready” for a gay superhero. “I’m so passionate about this, I’ve got to tell you,” she told Variety. “Our entire success is based on people that are incredibly different. Why wouldn’t we? Why would we only want to be recognized by only one type of person? Our audience is global, is diverse, is inclusive. If we don’t do it that way for them, we will fail.”
However, she stopped short of making concrete promises about when that would happen. The studio is currently focused on casting The Eternals, which has been rumored to have a queer lead character.
For now, Avengers: Endgame is home to the first openly gay character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, though not in the way you might think (click here for spoilers). Co-director Joe Russo has acknowledged the scene in which that character appears as a milestone, and said that it indicates a more diverse road for Marvel as the studio moves into its next phase: “Representation is really important,” he told Deadline. “It is a perfect time, because one of the things that is compelling about the Marvel Universe moving forward is its focus on diversity.”
