Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness is finally hitting theatres next week, but the newest Marvel movie won’t be coming to a few countries. It was announced last week that the movie had been banned in Saudi Arabia and the same announcement soon followed in Egypt. Yesterday, it was revealed that the movie includes 12 seconds of footage that Disney refused to take out which references America Chavez’s mothers. America, who is being played by Xochitl Gomez, is gay in the comics but there’s been no word on whether or not she’ll be out in the Doctor Strange sequel. However, in a new interview with Marvel.com, Gomez was joined by Marvel executive Victoria Alonso who spoke about the character’s identity.
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“It’s so cool that fans will get to see a young person in the middle of a big story like this, and know that things that happen in our kid lives are important because it shapes who they’ll become when they’re older as adults,” Gomez shared. “It’s exciting that we will hopefully get to see more of how things play out for America in the future.”
“[America] is a young Latina who is part of the LGBTQ+ community, and has great power,” Alonso added. “Children want to see themselves represented. There is this level of identity that comes to be a very important moment in an adolescent’s life – to see themselves; to not be invisible.”
However, Gomez adds that Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is not America’s origin story, so it’s unclear how much of her life will be showcased in the new film. For now, Gomez teases, “America is living her best life.”
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse director, Sam Raimi, recently spoke to Empire Magazine about how Chavez is an important part of the film.
“Strange is still learning about the Multiverse,” Raimi explained. “And here’s a character that can actually travel through it. He’s such a know-it-all all the time, and to have to learn from a kid probably smarts.”
Benedict Cumberbatch (Doctor Strange) added, “There’s a lot of reckoning. And a lot of self-discovery. Strange is almost a stranger to himself before this film unfolds and reveals what, essentially, is in his nature, that he then has to either confront or resist or fall into or become… There are some very bold ideas and some extraordinary tests of Strange, and encounters. There are some very unexpected conclusions.”
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse hits theatres on May 6th.
