LGBT+ Marvel Characters Discussion

[Anduinel]

Death's Head Preview is up at Newsarama:

https://www.newsarama.com/46271-time...eview.html#s10

[Drops Of Venus]

But speaking of which, while the Loki, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and What if...? series on Disney+ have a lot of potential going for them, my interest in the Hawkeye series is almost entirely based on it introducing Kate Bishop to the MCU, and pretty much the same can be said about WandaVision - if it doesn't have Billy and Tommy, what's the point?

Kate is definitely what I'm looking forward to the most in the Hawkeye series, as I've just never been much into MCU Clint. As for WandaVision, while I would love to see some reference to Billy's and Tommy's origins in the MCU, I think the show has a lot of potential on its own, even without that. I mean, there is a reason why that show will be a direct tie-in to Doctor Strange 2. We're probably getting some freaky stuff there.

And speaking of Loki, with all the talk about Valkyrie and Eternals, I'm honestly disappointed that the media and fans don't seem to be focusing on Loki as a source of LGBTQ representation as much. Him being openly pansexual/genderfluid on his show would probably be the biggest win in terms of representation that we could get, because not only he is one of the most prominent faces of that universe ever since phase 1, but it would also be the first SOLO LGBTQ production from Marvel Studios.

Death's Head Preview is up at Newsarama:

https://www.newsarama.com/46271-time...eview.html#s10

To quote Billy: yesyesyesyesyes! Only him would get so excited at the face of danger and threat just because he gets to change in the bathroom (even though he can conjure up clothes magically and Teddy can just shapeshift his). God, I love those dorks.

[Dermie]

The Week In Gay:

Guardians Of The Galaxy #7 - Moondragon referred to Phyla as her wife, so these two have apparently made their relationship more official and formal than their 616 counterparts had. Also, the Guardians' new starship is named "Bowie" in reference to David Bowie.

Fearless #1 of 3 - In addition to the LGBT writers who contributed stories to this, we also have an appearance by Chili Storm in the Millie The Model story.

History Of The Marvel Universe #1 of 6 - Rawhide Kid is shown in this issue

Marvel Rising #5 of 5

Iron Man #14 - Spymaster returns in this story, and appears to be the same Spymaster who got into a gay relationship with one of Stark's employees back during Matt Fraction's run.

Valkyrie: Jane Foster #1 - America's ex-girlfriend Lisa Halloran makes an appearance. It looks like she may be an ongoing supporting cast member for this series...if so, good for her. Its not every love interest character who gets to have a continued role after the relationship ends--especially not a role in an entirely different book, unconnected to her original book.

Did I miss any?

[Holt]

Right now the only thing that interests me about WandaVision is the presence of Monica Rambeau. Doing something with Billy would definitely change that.

[twincast]

I mean, Wanda and Vision are two of the best and most interesting characters in the MCU. So that's the point.

If it were set between Civil War and Infinity War, sure, but it's not.

Kate is definitely what I'm looking forward to the most in the Hawkeye series, as I've just never been much into MCU Clint.

A Hawkeye and the Black Widow prequel movie showing how they met and bonded would've been cool (about five years ago). I guess the Black Widow movie might cover some of that among other flashbacks. (Nominally she'd deserve top billing, but this option (with him first and the definite article for her) rolls off the tongue by far the best, and you could have still listed Johanson first in all the credits. Well, it's a moot point either way.)

As for WandaVision, while I would love to see some reference to Billy's and Tommy's origins in the MCU, I think the show has a lot of potential on its own, even without that. I mean, there is a reason why that show will be a direct tie-in to Doctor Strange 2. We're probably getting some freaky stuff there.

I assume we all agree that Wanda will find out about a - visually impressive - way to dive deep into chaos magic as a means to bring back Vision, yes? This could make for a great movie, but I don't see this alone providing enough story for several hours more than that. And even on Disney+ these shows are bound to be second-tier (which is an absolute upgrade from third- to fifth-tier, but still...), so I have a hard time believing they'd actually do something as major as bringing someone back who had died in the movies (which unlike with Coulson they'd have to actually address). Plus, if they (only) wanted to resurrect Vision, then they could've easily done so in Endgame - even during the timeskip. Shuri had finished her work on his neural network; the only reason he died was because Thanos sadistically crushed his head when he brutally removed the Mind Stone - repairing him wouldn't have broken any of the rules set up. My guess would be that she magically recreates him, but for any number of potential (common magic trope) reasons it doesn't last. And my hope would be that while at it, she gives them a happy family with twin boys who get moved to elsewhere (and elsewhen) in the MCU's spacetime when it all falls apart, raising the number of members set up for a Young Avengers movie in 2022 or 2023 to four (and reducing the amount of introduction needed in that film).

And speaking of Loki, with all the talk about Valkyrie and Eternals, I'm honestly disappointed that the media and fans don't seem to be focusing on Loki as a source of LGBTQ representation as much. Him being openly pansexual/genderfluid on his show would probably be the biggest win in terms of representation that we could get, because not only he is one of the most prominent faces of that universe ever since phase 1, but it would also be the first SOLO LGBTQ production from Marvel Studios.

I don't remember more than maybe a couple of flirty jokes thus far, so I guess I had already mentally written him off long before the first rumors about this series? And the TV screen, while potentially causing more "engagement", remains a downgrade.

To quote Billy: yesyesyesyesyes! Only him would get so excited at the face of danger and threat just because he gets to change in the bathroom (even though he can conjure up clothes magically and Teddy can just shapeshift his). God, I love those dorks.

My prior exposure to Death's Head had been close to zero, but my interest was piqued due to these two and it's looking good so far. Seems like I'll have a collected edition waiting for me in a few months.

Right now the only thing that interests me about WandaVision is the presence of Monica Rambeau. Doing something with Billy would definitely change that.

You know, I'm looking forward to her in Captain Marvel 2, but in this she feels totally out of place - unless they somehow introduce Teddy through her connection with the Skrulls (and the Kree). ... We don't have episode counts for these Disney+ series yet, have we? This idea construct of mine is starting to feel a bit much for the usual length of a streaming series. Can anyone think of any other plausible reason for her to be there?

[BroHomo]

Loki
Daken
Machinesmith
Electro (was implied to be at least bi-curious)
Gypsy Moth/Skein
Swordsman III (Andreas Strucker)
Joystick
Batwing
David Ferrari (SHIELD agent driven insane by failed super-soldier experiment; and brother of Captain America's ex-girlfriend)
Glorianna (an Inhuman from Peter David's modern SPIDER-MAN 2099 series)
Mephisto

There's almost certainly more, but those were the ones who came immediately to mind.

does Fantomex count?
Has Apocalypse ever shown an interest in the opposite sex? or anybody?
Shinobi Shaw
Juggernaut+Black Tom (lol)

Historically the people who have hated us called us deviants. Some still do

Historically the people who have hated us have more commonly called us another name that freely gets bandied about by people who don't even identify as gay.
Personally I'd rather identify as a deviant (especially in a post-Detroit: Become Human world) than as the Q-word.

Deviant...Queer...Eag... are words that should do nothing to a person but adjective how awesome they are

[Shreene]

does Fantomex count?
Has Apocalypse ever shown an interest in the opposite sex? or anybody?
Shinobi Shaw
Juggernaut+Black Tom (lol)



Deviant...Queer...Eag... are words that should do nothing to a person but adjective how awesome they are

Yes, her name was Nephri (Nephri: Earth-616).

[Dermie]

does Fantomex count?
Has Apocalypse ever shown an interest in the opposite sex? or anybody?
Shinobi Shaw
Juggernaut+Black Tom (lol)

I tend to think of Fantomex more as an X-man than as a villain.

Shinobi Shaw is a good addition.

I see I also forgot Man-Killer/Amazon on my earlier list - shame on me, as a T-Bolts fan.

Venomm (the Black Panther foe; not to be confused with Venom, the Spider-Man foe) is gay, although it has never been explicitly stated on-panel. But Don McGregor implied it as much as he could under the Comics Code restrictions of the time.

[Drops Of Venus]

I assume we all agree that Wanda will find out about a - visually impressive - way to dive deep into chaos magic as a means to bring back Vision, yes? This could make for a great movie, but I don't see this alone providing enough story for several hours more than that. And even on Disney+ these shows are bound to be second-tier (which is an absolute upgrade from third- to fifth-tier, but still...), so I have a hard time believing they'd actually do something as major as bringing someone back who had died in the movies (which unlike with Coulson they'd have to actually address). Plus, if they (only) wanted to resurrect Vision, then they could've easily done so in Endgame - even during the timeskip. Shuri had finished her work on his neural network; the only reason he died was because Thanos sadistically crushed his head when he brutally removed the Mind Stone - repairing him wouldn't have broken any of the rules set up. My guess would be that she magically recreates him, but for any number of potential (common magic trope) reasons it doesn't last. And my hope would be that while at it, she gives them a happy family with twin boys who get moved to elsewhere (and elsewhen) in the MCU's spacetime when it all falls apart, raising the number of members set up for a Young Avengers movie in 2022 or 2023 to four (and reducing the amount of introduction needed in that film).

The show was first reported as a Scarlet Witch solo, so my guess is that while her trying to bring Vision back will probably be an important plot point, it might not be the only one. I think there is going to be a lot of exploration of her individual character, her origin story, etc. Wanda and Vision have decades of comics history, so there's a lot to explore. My personal guess is that they're going to be taking inspiration from those old time duo books they had, maybe some storylines from classic Avengers comics, and maybe some stuff from their most recent solo books. There are already rumors about Tom King's Vision being an inspiration, and I wouldn't be surprised if they used James Robinson's Scarlet Witch to build an origin for her that doesn't revolve around mutants/Magneto. With this much material in hands, I think a mini-series is warranted.

You know, I'm looking forward to her in Captain Marvel 2, but in this she feels totally out of place - unless they somehow introduce Teddy through her connection with the Skrulls (and the Kree). ... We don't have episode counts for these Disney+ series yet, have we? This idea construct of mine is starting to feel a bit much for the usual length of a streaming series. Can anyone think of any other plausible reason for her to be there?

I read somewhere that one of the shows was going to have 6 episodes. Not sure if that's the standard for all of the other Disney+ productions, though. As for Monica, my guess right now is that maybe the show takes place in New Orleans (a place with a rich mystical mythology), and Monica may be their neighbor or something.

[BroHomo]

I tend to think of Fantomex more as an X-man than as a villain..

is he not 3 people anymore?

[Wiccan]

Fantomex is gone, his mind is stuck in the astral plane and Xavier took his body.

[BroHomo]

Fantomex is gone, his mind is stuck in the astral plane and Xavier took his body.

so he's def a gay villain

[Shreene]

Death's Head Preview is up at Newsarama:

https://www.newsarama.com/46271-time...eview.html#s10

I would buy this if it was Death's Head II (minion).

[MasterOfMagnetism]

Alright it's time for another one of my obsessive rants about The Eternals. I continue to try to figure out who the gay character is going to be by piecing together every single scrap of info or rumour about this film's casting process and every time I think I'm starting to get close to the truth something suddenly makes me doubt what I believe. Lol, seriously though this is driving me towards insanity. Just a warning, this is going to be lengthy.

Early in the casting process they were looking for an actor to fill an unnamed role. The character was literally only described as; Male Lead. 30-49. A Greek God. Because it said Greek God many people assumed that this is supposed to be Hercules but the name Hercules was not used in any official casting information, only speculation.

The casting for the gay character specified; an actor, 30-49, who “physically looks like a superhero” for one of the film’s leads. While the studio is open to actors of all ethnicity, they would prefer the role to go to an openly gay actor. The significant part here is that the age range is the exact same as the Greek God character, which leads me to believe that they are supposed to be the same character. I noticed that these two roles are the only ones with the exact same age range except for Ikaris and Sersi, more on that later.

A later casting call was looking for a gay Asian male character, referred to only as "James". The same site that first reported Marvel was looking for a gay actor reported this about the role of James; we can confirm that the studio is seeking an actor to fill the role of James, who is “intellectual, emotional, and has a strong sense of family.” Specifically, the studio is looking at openly gay/bisexual Asian actors in their 20’s. The site also claimed that Conrad Ricamora was the frontrunner for this role, although as has been pointed out he is not in his 20s. This obviously sounds different than the Greek God character.

As I mentioned earlier I saw two film critics on twitter discussing the actor Brian Tyree Henry who plays Phastos in The Eternals joining the MCU and they seemed to have inside information on his role. One of them, a gay male film critic, seemed to be hinting that Brian is playing a gay character. I realize that I might be reaching with this one and I'm mostly basing it on a winking emoji, but I'm like 90% sure he was implying that Brian is playing the gay character. The confusing part is why would these critics know for sure who the gay character is when other sources who have been reporting on the casting process don't know yet? Also Brian Tyree Henry doesn't seem to fit the other casting descriptions and the character of Phastos was never mentioned in the previous casting calls.

Kevin Feige confirmed in an interview that Valkyrie was not going to be the only LGBT character in one of the movies revealed at comic-con and confirmed that there would be an LGBT character in The Eternals, his phrasing did leave open the possibility that there might be more than one LGBT character in The Eternals.

One of the mysteries of The Eternals casting process has been the role of "Karen". All the casting calls for this role suggest that this is supposed to be the main character of the film but who exactly she is supposed to be is unclear. This is the description for the role; Karen. 25-33. Female. Open to any nationality or ethnicity particularly Middle Eastern, African and Native American. Powerful, a timeless quality, a leader. Warm, nurturing and intuitive… AKA she can kick- ass but had warmth. Should have an international/ timeless feel. Many people have speculated that this is supposed to be Sersi who had originally been reported as the main character of the film, however on the original casting call there was a separate description for Sersi asking for a female actor aged 20-40. People have speculated that "Karen" is supposed to be a character named Margo Damian, who in the original Kirby run of the comics was an archaeologist who discovered the Eternals. Because there is so little information about the plot of the movie so far people have wondered if the plot will be more based on the Kirby run or the more recent Neil Gaiman Eternals story. In the Gaiman version the Eternals have lost their memories and are living as normal humans on Earth. People have also speculated that the role of "Karen" is actually an amalgamation of Margo and Sersi, where Sersi has no memories of being an Eternal and believes she is a human named Margo Damian. I have begun to suspect this is quite likely.

Now because the original casting call listed Karen and Sersi separately it's possible that they're supposed to be different characters but I believe that was to help hide the identity of the "Karen" role and cast a wider net for actresses. Conveniently the age range for Karen is right in the middle of the age range for Sersi. If it's true that "Karen" and Sersi were always intended to be the same role I wonder if the same might be true of the "Greek God" and Ikaris. The man who first broke the story that Marvel was looking to cast an openly gay actor for a gay character, Charles Murphy, said in one of his podcasts that later casting calls no longer mentioned Ikaris by name and were simply looking for "a handsome leading-man type". Similar to Sersi, Ikaris' original casting call didn't have much info aside from a generic age range that was the same as Sersi's. Considering that many people assumed Richard Madden would be playing the gay character because of his rumoured personal life perhaps he was indeed cast for the gay role.

The main reason that some people don't believe that Ikaris is the gay character is because allegedly the plot of the movie would involve a romance between Ikaris and Sersi, but I don't know if there's been any reliable info stating that. What confuses me is that apparently in the comics Ikaris and Sersi are cousins, not lovers as far as I can tell. Sersi was romantically involved with Black Knight but not Ikaris from what I've seen. Of course it's possible that this could be changed for the movie but I'm beginning to wonder if the the claims that Ikaris and Sersi will be in a relationship in The Eternals were based more on speculation than accurate reports. Perhaps if "Karen" was/is supposed to be Sersi despite originally being listed as different characters, then the "Greek God" was supposed to be Ikaris despite being originally listed as different characters as well? And perhaps Ikaris and Sersi were never supposed to be in a relationship in the film?

Overall I am still extremely confused as to who the gay character is going to be. It's most likely that we still won't have any better idea until the D23 convention later in August. Sorry for the lengthy post but I really felt like I needed to vent these thoughts.

[Dermie]

I see I also forgot Man-Killer/Amazon on my earlier list - shame on me, as a T-Bolts fan.

Venomm (the Black Panther foe; not to be confused with Venom, the Spider-Man foe) is gay, although it has never been explicitly stated on-panel. But Don McGregor implied it as much as he could under the Comics Code restrictions of the time.

Satana is bisexual.

Wasn't Mister Sinister at least implied to be bisexual in recent years when he got revamped and made over?

There was a transgender Daredevil villain by the name of Sir.

Superia. She hasn't been explicitly outed as a lesbian, but its been implied enough.

Metal Master was outed as gay in the BLACK BOLT series.

Marcus Roston was a villain in the DAKEN: DARK WOLVERINE series.

Spymaster infiltrated Stark Resilient and had a gay relationship with one of Stark's other employees in Matt Fraction's IRON MAN run.

Priapus was a villain from a Silver Sable/Luke Cage/Terror Inc crossover in the 90s. He wasn't explicitly outed as pansexual, but it was implied - and pretty obvious given his role as the leader of a cult of sexual hedonists.

Scorpio (Jake Fury) was intended to be gay by David Anthony Kraft when he wrote his storyline in DEFENDERS, and he dropped a number of hints to it in the arc (he, of course, could not be more explicit due to the Comics Code of the time). Later writers have clearly shown Jake Fury to be straight--but since that particular Scorpio turned out to be an LMD, its still possible that the Scorpio LMD was gay and hadn't duplicated Jake's personality and memories correctly.