This post contains spoilers for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

The Marvel Cinematic Universe just got the teensiest bit queerer.

In a post-credit scene, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 introduces a major lesbian character from the comics into the MCU: Phyla-Vell.

Throughout the movie, you see glimpses of a young girl with white hair who was created by the movie’s villain the High Evolutionary. At the end of the film, she joins an all-new Guardians line-up that begins when the original team goes their separate ways.

While James Gunn is done making Guardians movies, it’s doubtful that this is the last we’ll see of these characters in the MCU.

While it’s exciting to get another queer character in the MCU, once again, it’s taken a queer character and de-aged them. In the Comics, Phyla-Vell is usually an adult and in an adult relationship with her fellow Guardian of the Galaxy, Moondragon.

The MCU also aged down lesbian superhero America Chavez, who is usually in her early twenties and is the same age as Kate Bishop (played by 26-year-old Hailee Steinfeld in the MCU). Chavez is played by 17-year-old Xochitl Gomez.

Maybe the MCU plan is for America and Phyla-Vell to eventually meet and become a couple. Or maybe the MCU plan is to make its lesbian characters too young to flirt with the women of the MCU, desexualizing them.

When two other gay Marvel characters, Billy and Tommy, the twin sons of Wanda and Vision, were introduced in the series WandaVision, they were also de-aged from their usual teen or young adult selves to pre-teens.

Thankfully, it seems they’ll be older in the upcoming Agatha: Coven of Chaos, as Heartstopper star Joe Locke has been cast as Billy.

Hopefully, soon the MCU will graduate from just having the kind of representation you don’t even know is there unless you know deep comics lore into having queer characters who get to live out their queerness on screen.

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