The world’s mightiest queeroes! When can we expect some proper LGBTQ+ representation in the Marvel Cinematic Universe?
The “Grieving Man” was a bit of a sour moment for the MCU, wasn’t it? Maybe it wasn’t as tokenistic as the all-female team up in Avengers: Endgame’s final moments (still slayed though), but it wasn’t the LGBTQ+ representation we’ve been heavily campaigning for since Iron Man launched the most profitable franchise in cinematic history back in 2008. In the aforementioned Avengers blockbuster, viewers received their first openly gay character in an MCU film after 21 critically-acclaimed blockbusters (bar Thor: The Dark World…) and it was, well, it was shoddy as fuck. Played by co-director Joe Russo, the scene in question saw the “Grieving Man” confide in America’s ass Steve Rogers during a post-snap support group about his first date since losing his male partner. It was… miniscule. But of course, Endgame made headlines as the first MCU film to - like we said above - feature gay representation. We’re even guilty of plastering the story across our website, because we’re absolutely starved of seeing queers in the superhero genre. Russo went on to say that “representation is really important” and that it was “the perfect time” to introduce a gay into the franchise, as if they broke new ground for the community on screen. Shoddy! We demand more!
Thankfully, since the release of Endgame - which became the highest-grossing film ever until Avatar toppled it with a re-release - Marvel Studios executives have continuously promised to diversify their slate of heroes. Kevin Feige, Marvel Studios president, said in an Endgame junket: “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.
