Avengers star Brie Larson tells Marvel to ‘move faster’ with gay superhero
Brie Larson attends the world premiere of Avengers: Endgame. (Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Disney)
Captain Marvel actor Brie Larson has called on Marvel to introduce its first LGBT+ superhero.
Larson spoke about the importance of “diverse storytelling” in a sit-down interview with Variety’s Marc Malkin.
“I’m happy to be on the forefront of the normalisation of this type of content and to prove once again that representation matters,” she said in a video released on Thursday (April 25).
“Diverse storytelling matters, the female experience matters, and these are markers.”
“Diverse storytelling matters, the female experience matters.”
—Brie Larson
When Malkin told Larson that as a child, he didn’t think he would ever grow up to see a gay superhero on screen, the star told him that she was heart-broken.
“That breaks my heart to hear that, because there’s no reason,” she said.
“I don’t understand how you could think that a certain type of person isn’t allowed to be a superhero.
Brie Larson as Captain Marvel in Avengers: Endgame. (Marvel)
“So to me it’s like, we gotta move faster. But I’m always wanting to move faster with this stuff.”
Marvel has made great strides in terms of representation with the release of Black Panther—its first to feature a mostly-black cast, and Captain Marvel—its first stand-alone led by a woman, but it is yet to to produce a film led by an LGBT+ hero.
Avengers: Endgame introduces first gay character
Avengers: Endgame, the 22nd film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), is the first to feature an openly queer character (warning–minor spoiler ahead).
Co-director Joe Russo makes a subtle cameo at the start of the film, as a man attending a support group for people whose loved ones were erased by Thanos at the end of Avengers: Infinity War.
The unnamed character describes going on his first date with a man since the world-shattering event.
“Representation is really important,” Russo told Deadline on Thursday (April 25), the film’s release date.
“It was important to us as we did four of these films, we wanted a gay character somewhere in them.”
“We wanted a gay character.”
—Joe Russo
Russo directed Endgame with his brother Anthony. The pair also helmed Infinity Wars as well as the second and third Captain America films
“We felt it was important that one of us play him, to ensure the integrity and show it is so important to the filmmakers that one of us is representing that,” he added.
Marvel’s The Eternals could feature queer superhero
Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige has confirmed that a film based on The Eternals is in development, which could reportedly introduce the MCU’s first queer superhero.
Hercules, who is bisexual in the Marvel Comics canon, will reportedly lead the film and be played by a gay actor, according to news site MCU Cosmic.
