LGBT+ Marvel Characters Discussion

[MasterOfMagnetism]

Transgender actress Angelica Ross from the tv series Pose has allegedly been hired by Marvel. People are already speculating that she might be playing Sera.

If that's true then it's pretty damn big, it looks like Marvel/Disney might finally be done with worrying about foreign censorship.

[Drops Of Venus]

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.

Good job on the CSI work, LOL.

Oh, about the Ikaris/Sersi romance, I was doing some research and found out that the website that first reported this was The Hollywood Reporter:

Sources tell The Hollywood Reporter that one aspect to the story involves the love story between Ikaris, a man fueled by cosmic energy, and Sersi, who relishes moving amongst humans.

Now, I would usually consider THR a reliable source, but the thing is, they were also the ones who reported that Angelina Jolie was playing Sersi, something that's been proven false:

Jolie is understood to be playing the character named Sersi, a more outgoing Eternal who has not been afraid to move amongst humankind.

So that puts into question the credibility of their source when it comes to info on Sersi.

But I feel like you're definitely onto something with your theory about the unknown male/female leads possibly being Ikaris and Sersi. As a matter of fact, Charles Murphy himself said in his SDCC Podcast that he believes Karen is Sersi. I also remember reading somewhere about how casting breakdowns usually list characters by order of importance, and Karen + Male Lead were always on the top 5 names.

Anyway, I guess we're gonna have a bigger hint for this once they reveal the extended cast for the movie, which I'm assuming will probably be complete by next month's D23. Maybe they'll even formally announce who the gay character is, since they had no problem talking about Valkyrie's sexuality beforehand.

Transgender actress Angelica Ross from the tv series Pose has allegedly been hired by Marvel. People are already speculating that she might be playing Sera.

If that's true then it's pretty damn big, it looks like Marvel/Disney might finally be done with worrying about foreign censorship.

I saw her tweet, but absolutely no one reporting on it, which made me wonder if she was making an official announcement or if she was just being cheeky and offering herself for a job. Marvel actors are usually not allowed to talk about that kind of stuff until it's out there in the news.

[MasterOfMagnetism]

Good job on the CSI work, LOL.

Oh, about the Ikaris/Sersi romance, I was doing some research and found out that the website that first reported this was The Hollywood Reporter:

Now, I would usually consider THR a reliable source, but the thing is, they were also the ones who reported that Angelina Jolie was playing Sersi, something that's been proven false:

So that puts into question the credibility of their source when it comes to info on Sersi.

But I feel like you're definitely onto something with your theory about the unknown male/female leads possibly being Ikaris and Sersi. As a matter of fact, Charles Murphy himself said in his SDCC Podcast that he believes Karen is Sersi. I also remember reading somewhere about how casting breakdowns usually list characters by order of importance, and Karen + Male Lead were always on the top 5 names.

Anyway, I guess we're gonna have a bigger hint for this once they reveal the extended cast for the movie, which I'm assuming will probably be complete by next month's D23. Maybe they'll even formally announce who the gay character is, since they had no problem talking about Valkyrie's sexuality beforehand.



I saw her tweet, but absolutely no one reporting on it, which made me wonder if she was making an official announcement or if she was just being cheeky and offering herself for a job. Marvel actors are usually not allowed to talk about that kind of stuff until it's out there in the news.

The CSI work nearly drove me insane, lol.

As soon as Jolie was involved in the casting everyone immediately assumed that she was playing Sersi. There was never any confirmation or rumour suggesting who she was playing. Everyone just assumed Sersi and ran with it. Remember that gay film critic I mentioned? The one who might have hinted Phastos is the gay character, after the cast reveal at comic-con he tweeted about Jolie's role as Thena saying; "it's a supporting role, always has been", which again seems to imply that he had inside info.

I also listened to Murphy's podcast and was frustrated that he didn't mention who he thinks the gay character is. He had tweeted that he might mention who he thinks it is but either forgot to or chose not to. Anyway, I'm still not 100% convinced that Ikaris and Sersi are supposed to be a couple, but we'll see. As you pointed out earlier they were originally looking for a man to play Makkari and ended up casting a woman in the role so clearly they might have changed their plans for certain characters.

As for Angelica Ross she tweeted at Marvel asking if they wanted to share the good news or her, it was pretty obvious that she was saying they hired her. I did notice another guy on twitter who reports on Marvel casting news tweeting about the MCU possibly getting it's first transgender superhero earlier today. This is very recent so other sources haven't picked up on it yet.

[Wiccan]

MoM, I really think it would be better to just... Stop caring so much about this? lol. At the end of the day, I'd say the truth is that there's nothing to talk about in Eternals in regards to this thread. Let's just wait and see if maybe there's any news, but so far there's nothing.

[MasterOfMagnetism]

MoM, I really think it would be better to just... Stop caring so much about this? lol. At the end of the day, I'd say the truth is that there's nothing to talk about in Eternals in regards to this thread. Let's just wait and see if maybe there's any news, but so far there's nothing.

Fine. I'll only bring it up again if we get some new information.

[Drops Of Venus]

I did notice another guy on twitter who reports on Marvel casting news tweeting about the MCU possibly getting it's first transgender superhero earlier today. This is very recent so other sources haven't picked up on it yet.

I just saw that:

https://thegww.com/exclusive-marvel-...haracter-sera/

Not sure how reliable this source is. Never heard about them before. But it does add up to Angelica Ross tweeting about getting an important call and then tweeting about Marvel. Also, it seems like the only reason they are speculating about Sera is because she is literally the only female trans superhero they can think of, but the description is so vague it could literally be anyone. The website says that given the dates for when the actress is required, this is likely for a 2021 production, meaning that the potential projects where the character will be featured are Shang-Chi, Doctor Strange, Loki, Hawkeye and Thor. I think we can rule Shang-Chi out, because I doubt a movie that will most likely pander to the chinese market will feature any LGBTQ representation.

[legion_quest]

Great as it sounds, much like with the comics, it feels like they are doing so much at once people will turn on it.

"Superhero bubble burst by SJ backlash" is a headline that many sites/papers etc. will love and push

[skyvolt2000]

Great as it sounds, much like with the comics, it feels like they are doing so much at once people will turn on it.

"Superhero bubble burst by SJ backlash" is a headline that many sites/papers etc. will love and push

But they are pushing back against a blank slate property. It wouldn't even be worth it.

It breaking even is another victory.

Heck it being made is a victory no matter what.

[Punisher007]

https://mobile.twitter.com/JaimieAle...99827504689153

Seems like Lady Sif wants to be Valkyrie's queen.

[legion_quest]

Death's Head came out today, with Billy and Teddy starring.

Seems to be another 'Billy has screwed it all up' story again.

[MasterOfMagnetism]

I just saw this article reporting that Marvel is indeed looking to cast a transgender actress. It's starting to look more likely that Sera will be in Thor: Love & Thunder.

https://thegww.com/exclusive-marvel-...haracter-sera/

[H-E-D]

I don't think we can discount the possibility that they're reinventing an existing character for whatever this role is, or even creating an original character. In which case this casting could be for pretty much any of their announced films outside of Black Widow.

[Drops Of Venus]

I'm skeptical about this being Sera, because there is virtually no information about the character. It could be anyone. Spider-Man: Far From Home had a transgender actor that had literally one line. So I'm not getting my hopes up for that until we get more concrete information.

But if by any chance we are getting Sera, then it's likely we're getting Angela too, 'cause I don't see them using Angela's main supporting character without Angela herself. Having both of them in the MCU would be amazing!

[H-E-D]

If Angela shows up in a Marvel movie, it'll be a little surreal to see a character Marvel has owned for less than a decade joining the MCU.

[MasterOfMagnetism]

I don't think we can discount the possibility that they're reinventing an existing character for whatever this role is, or even creating an original character. In which case this casting could be for pretty much any of their announced films outside of Black Widow.

That's definitely a possibility, but all things considered I do think Sera is the most likely candidate.

If Angela shows up in a Marvel movie, it'll be a little surreal to see a character Marvel has owned for less than a decade joining the MCU.

I really don't think it matters how long a character has been owned by Marvel. There have been rumours for a while that Marvel wants to make a movie about Kamala Khan and she hasn't been around for very long.

Also I'm pretty sure Marvel doesn't fully own the rights to Angela so I don't think they can include her in a movie. That might be a part of the reason why they basically took her backstory for Hela in Ragnarok.