OUT MAGAZINE
Okay, Chloe Zhao, you've got our attention!
According to Film Ratings, The Eternals, which is set to be Marvel Studios' first movie featuring a gay superhero, will be rated PG-13 for "brief sexuality." Now, is there any chance that could be gay sexuality? Unfortunately, probably not. But a queer can hope, can't she?
The Eternals features a very sexy cast, including legends Salma Hayek and bi icon Angelina Jolie, as well as Gemma Chan, Kit Harington, and Richard Madden, so, it will likely be one of their characters who will get the moment of "brief sexuality."
However, the film also features Atlanta and If Beale Street Could Talk star Brian Tyree Henry as super-intelligent inventor Phastos, who is married to a man, and is the first gay superhero in the MCU, so there's a small chance he could be the one getting a sex scene with his character's husband. We're at least hoping for a kiss!
Unfortunately, the MCU has a long history of erasing its queer characters, and when it does show them, erasing their sexuality.
There have been a few recent queer additions to the MCU, but again, they haven't gotten a chance to actually do anything gay. While the god of mischief Loki came out as bisexual in his self-titled Disney+ series, the series' showrunner said that that's all the exploring of his sexuality the show would do.
Similarly, two gay superheroes, Wiccan and Speed showed up in WandaVision, where they were de-aged to be pre-pubescents. Another queer superhero, America Chavez, has been cast, with 15-year-old Xochitl Gomez set to play the role.
While in the comics, Chavez is known as one of Marvel's biggest dreamboats, flirting with everyone from Captain Marvel, to Valkyrie, to Kate Bishop Hawkeye, in the MCU her character will have to be extremely different. Even Hailee Steinfeld, who is playing Kate Bishop, is a whole decade older than Gomez, making any flirtation virtually impossible on screen.
We do know that in the upcoming Thor: Love and Thunder, Valkyrie will be searching for a queen as she's the new King of Asgard. Hopefully, she'll get to have some of that patented Marvel brief sexuality.
The Eternals hits theaters on November 5.
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