Marvel Exec Says "World Is Ready" for a Gay MCU Hero

Black Panther broke ground for Marvel Studios last year when it became the first movie in the MCU with black character as its lead. Captain Marvel follows a similar path this weekend, launching as the franchise's first woman-led film. The company is becoming more diverse by the year, and the next step looks to be placing a LGBTQ character, or actor, at the forefront of a new project.

Reports surfaced recently that Chloe Zhao's upcoming Eternals movie was looking to cast an openly gay actor as its lead, which sparked conversation about LGBTQ representation in the MCU going forward. At the Captain Marvel premiere, Variety asked Marvel's production chief Victoria Alonso about the prospect of introducing a gay hero into the fold.

She simply replied, "The world is ready. The world is ready."

When the subject of the Eternals rumors came up, Alonso didn't confirm them, but did tease the casting of the upcoming film.

"We are going to cast the best Eternals cast that we can and when we're ready to announce it we promise we will," Alonso said.

As far as diversity goes, Alonso continued on to say that the studio is completely committed to the idea of keeping diverse stories on the production slate.

"Why wouldn't we be? Why wouldn't we be?" Alonso said. "I'm so passionate about this I've got to tell you. Our entire success is based on people that are incredibly different. Why wouldn't we? Why would we only want to be recognized by only one type of person? Our audience is global, is diverse, is inclusive. If we don't do it that way for them, we will fail. If we don't put pedal to the metal on the diversity and the inclusivity, we will not have continued success. Our determination is to have that for all of the people out there watching our movies."

Who do you think will become the first gay hero in the MCU? Could it be a character we've already seen in another film? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!

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