MINOR SPOILERS FOR AVENGERS: ENDGAME SO TURN AWAY NOW IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN IT YET.
In case you haven’t heard, a little indie film by the name of Avengers: Endgame has finally been unleashed upon the world and it’s been pandemonium from day one. Seriously, I’ve never seen a cinema so packed and the toilets more disgusting than the opening day of Endgame. It’s astonishing and stomach-churning.
The movie itself is like a wet dream in a wet dream for all those who have stuck with the MCU for each of its preceding 20-something films. But while you all were probably getting hooked in by Endgame‘s deluge of emotional and comedic pay-offs, epic battles and fan service-y moments, chances are that you completely missed the bit when Marvel introduced its first ever openly gay character.
Without going too much into spoiler territory, the character (played by co-director Joe Russo) isn’t a superhero or anything and appears towards the beginning of Endgame among a support group of sorts offering help to those who are struggling to cope with the loss of their loved ones who were dusted at the end of Infinity War.
Speaking to Deadline, Russo said that he insisted on making his character gay to offer an “inclusive moment” for LGBTQI Marvel fans.
“Representation is really important. It was important to us as we did four of these films, we wanted a gay character somewhere in them.
“We felt it was important that one of us play him, to ensure the integrity and show it is so important to the filmmakers that one of us is representing that.”
That being said, Russo didn’t want to make a big deal out of this history-making moment because he didn’t want it to direct attention away from Endgame‘s story. With half of humanity gone, the character’s sexuality was less important than to how he represents an everyday person – gay, straight, bi, black, white, Asian etc – struggling to cope with the aftermath of Thanos’ snappening.
“We wanted it to be casual, with the fact that the character is gay tied into the fabric of the storytelling and representing what everyday life is.
“We’re trying to represent everyone in everyday life. These are global movies that reach a lot of people. They are important to a lot of people and everyone has the right to see themselves on the screen and identify somewhere.”
The Russo brothers definitely pulled the moment off as the super casual reveal initially flew over my head and I didn’t register it until after the film.
If you completely missed it, well I’m not going to go into detail about the scene because of spoilers so you’ll have to just go and rewatch the film at the cinema (or a horrible quality pirated version of the film).
Okay, I’ll throw a bone to those who really want to know a bit more about Endgame – that theory where Ant-Man gets shoved up Thanos’ butt: in order to stop the Mad Titan’s roaring rampage? It doesn’t happen, sadly.