New York Post entertainment critic Johnny Oleksinski published an op-ed on 10 May about why he thinks there isn’t a need for a gay Marvel superhero. What did he say? ‘We the gay people have finally reached the Everest of equality,’ Oleksinski writes. ‘No, I’m not talking about the legalization of gay marriage in 2015, or Mayor Pete Buttigieg becoming the first serious openly gay presidential candidate. And I certainly don’t mean the recent election of Chicago’s first openly gay mayor, Lori Lightfoot. No, all of that was merely an amuse bouche to this windfall of justice.’ ‘The big news is that “Avengers: Endgame” directors Anthony and Joe Russo revealed Wednesday that a Marvel superhero or two will soon come out of the closet. Pop the cork! Set off the fireworks! Call up RuPaul for comment! Now the world will learn that a gay hero can lift a car, make a quip and be as emotionally vague as any straight superhero can. That’s real progress!’ To Oleksinski, this announcement was ‘empty pandering for money.’ Representational pandering ‘For some reason, the Disney-owned, multibillion-dollar-earning Marvel Cinematic Universe has become the scrappy banner-carrier of equality and representation. “Black Panther” and “Captain Marvel” were ballyhooed as if they were human rights victories as much as films, because who needs, I dunno, actual legal and societal achievements when you’ve got pretty lip service from Hollywood?’ ‘According to Gallup, we gays make up just 4.5 percent of the American population. Must we be in everything, regardless of quality? And with a gay character, especially, such a move wouldn’t constitute a groundbreaking “Ellen Show” moment anyway — it would be a targeted, social media-appeasing ploy. The kind of shallow gimmickry we see over and over again.’ ‘Remember in 2007 when J.K. Rowling announced that Professor Dumbledore had been gay in “Harry Potter” the whole time? Or when Disney promised an “exclusively gay” moment in its remake of “Beauty and the Beast” that amounted to little more than LeFou batting his eyelashes at Gaston at the pub? The most recent bait-and-switch actually came from Marvel.’ ‘When “Endgame” was released in March, we were told that it featured the MCU’s first openly gay character. “Huh,” I thought. “Perhaps my glasses prescription isn’t strong enough.” The millions of people around the world who have seen that movie probably also didn’t spot it, because it was the unnamed guy in the “Five Years Later” group therapy session who talks for 30 seconds about going on a date. To whom should we address our “thank you” cards?’ Joe Russo Oleksinski quotes director Joe Russo about why he believes representation in film is important. ‘Tell ya what — instead of focusing on bowing to the whims of Twitter and Medium.com with a head-scratching cameo, or trying to pry salty tears out of my eyes with a single scene of gay flirting, just focus on making a good movie. We’ll buy a ticket if it’s good,’ Olesinski says in response to Russo. Real heroes ‘And, while we’re at it, June marks the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. Rather than obsessing over whether Carol Danvers or Dr. Strange is gonna come out of the Sling Ring, familiarize yourself with some actual gay superheroes, like Larry Kramer and the founders of ACT UP. What they did is a real marvel.’ See Also: Five production companies will not film in Georgia over new abortion law Marvel Studios plans to reveal one of its characters is gay Marvel casting director says fans will see LGBTI characters in the future<doc-sep>Hawkeye, War Machine, Iron Man, Captain America, Nebula, Rocket, Ant-Man and Black Widow in Avengers: Endgame (Marvel Studios) Avengers: Endgame directors Joe and Anthony Russo have suggested that Marvel’s first gay superhero has been hiding in plain sight. Joe Russo made a cameo in the record-breaking Endgame as an unnamed character who described going on a date with another man. The blink-and-you’ll miss it moment was heralded as the first time an openly gay character had appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, though some took offence to the somewhat tokenistic attempt at representation. Asked by EW Morning Live to clarify whether the character was indeed the first LGBT+ person in the MCU, Joe gave an intriguing response. “Yes, openly gay,” he said. “There’ve been insinuations about other characters’ sexuality, but this is the first openly gay character.” “There’ve been insinuations about other characters’ sexuality.” —Joe and Anthony Russo “Who else is gay?” host Jessica Shaw asked. “Uh—we’re gonna find out,” Joe replied. “That’s a story for another day,” his brother Anthony added. The Russos’ words chime with comments made by Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige, who in 2018 said that LGBT+ characters would soon join the universe. “Both ones you’ve seen and ones you haven’t seen,” he told The Playlist. Is Valkyrie Marvel’s first gay superhero? Tessa Thompson has already confirmed that she plays Thor: Ragnarok and Avengers: Endgame character Valkyrie as bisexual, though this isn’t made explicit in the films. “In the canon, yeah, she is bisexual,” she told Variety at the Endgame premiere on April 22. “You see her with both women and men, so that was my intention in playing her.” Thompson and Captain Marvel actor Brie Larson have both teased a potential relationship between their characters by reposting queer fan art. In real life Thompson is attracted to men and women but does not label herself. Marvel to introduce new gay superhero On Monday (May 6), Anthony and Joe Russo teased the introduction of an all-new queer superhero. “There is a gay character coming up in one of the films,” Joe told SiriusXM. “I think Kevin [Feige] will make that announcement, I’m sure pretty soon.” Reports have suggested that the upcoming The Eternals will cast a gay actor to play an LGBT+ Hercules.<doc-sep>Marvel has been hinting for quite a while now that the future of the MCU will be inclusive and diverse. In addition to that, they’ve also revealed that we will see an openly gay superhero lead the franchise moving forward, following Avengers: Endgame, and we think that we’ve figured out who it is – and it’s someone we’ve been seeing a lot of in the movies lately. None other than Captain Marvel. First, let’s begin with all of the quotes on the subjects from producers, actors, etc. Kevin Feige has many quotes about the future of the MCU being diverse, so let’s just go with the one he made back in March: “People also ask sometimes bout Black Panther. So, the notion of representation on screen, in front of and behind the camera, somebody asked me once, so is Black Panther a one-off? This is the future. This is the way the world is, and the way, certainly, our studio’s going to be run going forward, because it brings about better stories. The more diverse the group of people making the movie is, the better the stories.” Add that on to Marvel’s Production Chief, Victoria Alonso, who was asked about the possibility of a gay superhero in the MCU, to which she replied: “The world is ready, the world is ready.” Before adding: “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.” Add that on to the comments Feige made in an interview with ET a couple months back, where he said: “I think all of those are percolating and — let’s put it this way: They’re all percolating. I do want to keep the focus on this one and on the immediate future, but everything you just named are percolating, some closer than others.” And now, The Russo Brothers have flat out said that an announcement on a gay character coming out will be very soon. When Joe Russo spoke about his cameo as the first openly gay character in the MCU, he revealed: “Yes, openly gay. There’s been insinuations about other characters’ sexuality, but this is the first openly gay character.” Okay. So who could it be? Well, Captain Marvel might be more obvious than you think. Brie Larson has hinted at wanting to be at the forefront of Marvel’s push to a more inclusive and diverse set of movies. More recently, the actress said: “I’m happy to be on the forefront of the normalization of this type of content and to prove once again that representation matters. Diverse storytelling matters, the female experience matters, and these are markers.” She continued: “So it’s something I’ve always known and I think a lot of people always knew, but this is just normalizing.” Finishing with: “I don’t understand how you could think that a certain type of person isn’t allowed to be a superhero. So to me it’s like, we gotta move faster. But I’m always wanting to move faster with this stuff.” It’s worth pointing out that Carol Danvers didn’t have an openly stated dating relationship or anything like that in Captain Marvel (not that the story really required it) but many thought that she may have had a relationship with Monica Rambeau at some point in her past. I saw captain marvel. It was great. I would rate it: gay undertones for sure. pic.twitter.com/L4W2M4lwmp — Ashly Perez (@itsashlyperez) March 11, 2019 Carol and Maria invented being gay I said what I said#CaptainMarvel pic.twitter.com/nMdsYPxQT1 — Shiv ⎊⧗ (@iron_widow) March 8, 2019 the phrase “Auntie Carol” being lobbed at brie larson in ‘captain marvel’ was a glitch in the gay matrix. reality as we know it in the lesbian extended cinematic universe has been fractured — Jill Gutowitz (@jillboard) March 9, 2019 So, some have speculated this before, with Captain Marvel‘s release, and there’s also this tweet from Brie Larson herself: Added on with comments from Tessa Thompson, AKA Valkyrie, about a potential romance with Captain Marvel: “It didn’t even occur to me, legitimately, that it was necessarily a romantic thing. I don’t even know what happens in the canon in terms of those characters or if they ever intersect, but I just love the idea of more women Marvel characters getting to intersect. I just think it’s so cool and it’s time and why not? There’re so many compelling female characters inside of the MCU.” Some also think that her new look in Endgame points to it as well: Straighties really say she’s not a lesbian huh?? mmm… look again. pic.twitter.com/rHAFUnxv8w — mich⚢ (@sadsapphicvibes) April 27, 2019 Carol with her short hair while wearing her captain marvel suit is one thing but let’s talk about her look at [redacted]’s funeral????? pic.twitter.com/SkKjb7fXiC — Emma (@dillemmas) May 1, 2019 I’m just gonna day it: Captain Marvel is a lesbian icon.😍 pic.twitter.com/7RcgJCa82y — LadyButterflyNebula (@MoonstarMcWind) May 6, 2019 Brie: *Ships Carol and Valkyrie* Also brie: “Marvel needs to move faster with lgbt rep” Also also brie: *Shows an excessive amount of gay energy as carol danvers* Soooo Brie is really pushing for captain lesbian huh? pic.twitter.com/UiW5OWTEqW — Wayhaught Bro✌ (@4everteamdamon) May 5, 2019 So, in closing, if we were making a prediction, after the recent comments from The Russo Brothers, and everything else we’ve analyzed here, we’d say that Captain Marvel will most definitely be the character coming out as gay in the MCU in the near future. What do you think of this? How do you feel about the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Be sure to tell us all of your thoughts in the comments down below!<doc-sep>"It didn't have that neon sign, which in one way is good. It normalises this thing that is normal, but on the other hand there wasn't enough throughout the film to make that feel like it was really something they cared about."<doc-sep>
OPINION We the gay people have finally reached the Everest of equality. No, I’m not talking about the legalisation of gay marriage in 2015 … The big news is that Avengers: Endgame directors Anthony and Joe Russo revealed that a Marvel superhero or two will soon come out of the closet. Pop the cork! Set off the fireworks! Call up RuPaul for comment! Now the world will learn that a gay hero can lift a car, make a quip and be as emotionally vague as any straight superhero can. That’s real progress! Is it, though? Seems to me like more empty pandering for my money. For some reason, the Disney-owned, multibillion-dollar-earning Marvel Cinematic Universe has become the scrappy banner-carrier of equality and representation. Black Panther and Captain Marvel were ballyhooed as if they were human rights victories as much as films, because who needs, I dunno, actual legal and societal achievements when you’ve got pretty lip service from Hollywood? According to Gallup, we gays make up just 4.5 per cent of the American population and 3.4 per cent of the Australian population. Must we be in everything, regardless of quality? And with a gay character, especially, such a move wouldn’t constitute a groundbreaking Ellen Show moment anyway — it would be a targeted, social media-appeasing ploy. The kind of shallow gimmickry we see over and over again. Remember in 2007 when J.K. Rowling announced that Professor Dumbledore had been gay in Harry Potter the whole time? Or when Disney promised an “exclusively gay” moment in its remake of Beauty and the Beast that amounted to little more than LeFou batting his eyelashes at Gaston at the pub? The most recent bait-and-switch actually came from Marvel. When Endgame was released in March, we were told that it featured the MCU’s first openly gay character. “Huh,” I thought. “Perhaps my glasses prescription isn’t strong enough.” The millions of people around the world who have seen that movie probably also didn’t spot it, because it was the unnamed guy in the “Five Years Later” group therapy session who talks for 30 seconds about going on a date. To whom should we address our “thank you” cards? MCU: first gay marvel character to come in Endgame!! Me: it’s gonna b some random guy saying he went on a date with a man MCU: it’s a random guy saying he went on a date with a man!! 😱 Me: pic.twitter.com/YK2D7o3sQL — Tara (@SerafiniTt) May 7, 2019 “Representation is really important,” Joe Russo told Deadline of the scene. “It was important to us as we did four of these films, we wanted a gay character somewhere in them … It is a perfect time, because one of the things that is compelling about the Marvel Universe moving forward is its focus on diversity.” Tell ya what — instead of focusing on bowing to the whims of Twitter and Medium.com with a head-scratching cameo, or trying to pry salty tears out of my eyes with a single scene of gay flirting, just focus on making a good movie. We’ll buy a ticket if it’s good. Johnny Oleksinski is the Entertainment Critic at the New York Post. Continue the conversation via @JohnnyOMG This article originally appeared on The New York Post and was reproduced with permission