Eternals’ LGBTQ+ Superhero Is “Just the Start” of Representation, Says Kevin Feige

Marvel’s Eternals will be soon debuting in the theatres and the anticipated film is expected to introduce new levels of storylines into the MCU. The film will feature a diverse number of characters, as well as some LBGTQ+ romance between Brian Tyree Henry’s Phastos and a character played by Haaz Sleiman, making Phastos the first openly gay superhero in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Phastos will be the first openly gay superhero in MCU

While appearing in a recent interview on Variety during the premiere of Eternals, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige hinted that the inclusion of Phastos is just the beginning of LGBTQ+ representation in the Marvel franchise.

“There have been gay heroes before in the comics. It is more than past time in the movies,” Feige explained. “It’s just the start.”

While the MCU has made some headlines over the years for its LGBTQ+ representation, this year has brought in some positive developments. In the Disney+ series, Loki Laufeyson came out as bisexual in an episode of Loki.

“It takes time, we have so many stories that we can tell,” Marvel producer Victoria Alonso explained to Variety earlier this year. “We will empower those that are. We’re not changing anything. We’re just showing the world who these people are, who these characters are… There’s a lot that we have coming up that I think will be representative of the world of today. We’re not going to nail it in the first movie or the second movie or third movie, or the first show or second show, but we will do our best to consistently try to represent.”

“I have to be honest with you, it’s not a big deal,” Alonso added. “It is what it is when it suits the character. We’re not going to do it because it’s politically correct or incorrect. It is what it is. Don’t forget, we follow our comics. We try to follow them quite to the tee. So in the comics, this is who he was.”

In 2022’s Thor: Love and Thunder, fans can also see Valkyrie, played by Tessa Thompson, looking for a “queen” to rule in New Asgard alongside her which will canonize her sexuality in the comics.

“The answer is yes,” Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige said of how Valkyrie’s LGBTQ+ identity will affect the film in 2019. “How that impacts the story remains to be seen with that level of representation you’ll see across our films, not in just Thor 4“.