Anthony Mackie Says Kristen Stewart Should Be the Gay Captain America

As the Marvel Cinematic Universe grows with new heroes and new stories, so too does the diversity of those heroes. When The Eternals hits theaters next year, fans will get their first openly gay character in a lead role, a character that is believed to be Ikaris, played by Richard Madden. After that debut, it’s not difficult to imagine that there will be even more LGBTQ+ superhero representation and Avengers: Endgame star Anthony Mackie already has a suggestion: a gay, female Captain Americaas played by Kristen Stewart.

In an interview with Variety in support of Seberg, a film Mackie is starring in alongside Stewart, the actor suggested that his co-star should play a gay female take on Captain America.

“I think [Stewart] should be the gay female Falcon Captain America,” Mackie said.

For a bit of context, earlier this week Stewart opened up in an interview with Bazaar and talked about some of her experiences, including one in which she was told that if she stopped with the PDA regarding her girlfriend, she could get a big-budget film — such as a Marvel movie.

“I have fully been told, ‘If you just like do yourself a favor, and don’t go out holding your girlfriend’s hand in public, you might get a Marvel movie,’” Stewart said. “I don’t want work with people like that.”

In the Variety interview Stewart — who doesn’t really assign a label to her sexuality — clarifies that cited Marvel simply as an example of “a big conglomerate-y type thing”

“I’m sure they would love to hire the gay kids to be superheroes,” Stewart added.

While it’s not likely we’ll see a gay female Falcon Captain America anytime soon — the shift from Chris Evans’s Steve Rogers/Captain America to Mackie’s Sam Wilson/Falcon version is a significant one itself, more LGBTQ+ diversity in superhero films is something that we will see more of going forward. Not only has Spider-Man: Far From Home star Tom Holland himself advocated for gay characters (in his case specifically a gay Spider-Man), but The Eternals’ openly gay hero won’t be the only one in the MCU. Tessa Thompson’s Valkyrie will also fall under the LGBTQ+ umbrella with Thompson revealing at San Diego Comic-Con that Valkyrie will be looking for a Queen to rule alongside her in New Asgard in Thor: Love and Thunder.

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