The MCU is supposedly taking a big step forward for LGBTQ inclusion. According to a new interview with Entertainment Weekly published on Wednesday, Anthony and Joe Russo claim that a character the audience already knows will be revealed as gay in a future film. Obviously, that could apply to any of the characters in the MCU, whether they occupy roles that are large or small.
For example, an unnamed gay character played by Joe Russo appeared in a brief scene in Avengers: Endgame. That scene was subsequently cut from the film in countries like China, with no impact whatsoever on the movie’s plot, though the Russos’ comments about the scene make it sound far more profound.
“It was an integral scene to show how the world was reacting to what happened in at the end of Infinity War,” Joe Russo told EW of his bit part in Endgame. When asked to clarify if this character was “the first out gay character” in a Marvel film, Joe replied, “Yes, openly gay. There’ve been insinuations about other characters’ sexuality, but this is the first openly gay character.”
When pressed for more information, Joe demurred. He hesitated, then said, “We’re gonna find out!”
“That’s a story for another day,” Anthony added.
“There is a gay character coming up in one of their films, and I think Kevin [Feige, Marvel Studios president] will make that announcement, I’m sure pretty soon,” Joe told EW.
This news aligns with a previous announcement from Feige. In 2018, he said at least two openly gay characters would be revealed in future MCU films. “Both ones you’ve seen and ones you haven’t seen,” he explained. Assuming that Joe Russo’s character in Endgame was one of these characters, then who else will get to be canonically gay?
The MCU’s track record with erasing queerness isn’t stellar and accusations of queerbaiting have repeatedly been leveled at the MCU and the Russos, in particular. If Feige and the MCU do establish a major queer character, it will be a huge win. However, it’s hard to hope for anything truly groundbreaking when it comes to this franchise.
I followed the “queerbaiting” link and only saw an essay about how Cap-Bucky shippers didn’t get any satisfaction from ENDGAME.
Please tell me that you just cited the wrong link. I don’t wanna think there’s anyone wacked-out than Noah Berlasky.
Oh, and no revelations about Valkyrie’s sexuality would make her anything but a rubbish character. (I realize that’s a Brit expression but it fits her so well!)
Okay, as a gay person, I usually find complaints of queerbaiting to be ridiculous. But the way the MCU keeps having directors, writers and producers saying things like this actually kind of is.
Like, if you don’t want to show queer people, that’s your right, you know? But then don’t try to sound enlightened by saying things like “Oh we had this one guy who doesn’t even have a name say is he is sad in a support group” or “Oh, she’s queer, we were going to have her with a lady but then we didn’t” or “That character is gay but we never showed it on screen”. Quit jerking our chains! Make a named character who has a part in the plot actually gay on screen or don’t, but don’t spit on our heads and tell us that it’s raining. Pfft.
Came across this tweet:
“Which character will be gay? Hawkseye’s daughter, after her first semester at Oberlin.”
Xena and Gabriele– that’s queerbaiting. It’s obvious that during the production of the XENA series, the producers observed that a lot of fans liked the idea of the two heroines being warm for each other’s form, and though the two were never stated to be lesbians, there were numerous scenes in which they were shown together in intimate situations. One transparent episode even showed another warrior-woman, Najara, attempting to “steal” Gabrielle from Xena. The signs, however submerged, were still clear.
Neither the essay to which Puc links nor anything Puc wrote supports the idea that the MCU’s versions of Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes are gay for each other. I’m not saying that the MCU-stewards wouldn’t do so if they felt it in their interest.
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