The Marvel Cinematic Universe continues to expand with confirmation that the franchises first transgender superhero is arriving sooner than we think.
In a recent Q&A at the New York Film Academy, Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige was asked whether there were any plans to involve more LGBTQI+ characters in films. “Specifically the T, trans characters,” he confirmed. “Yes, absolutely. Yes.”
Feige added that Marvel’s first transgender superhero will appear “in a movie that we’re shooting right now.”
This is by no means the MCU’s first attempt at making the franchise more inclusive.
This year, The Eternals is set to introduce Marvel’s first gay and deaf superheroes and its first Asian-American superhero in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, arriving in February 2021.
Speaking to io9 in August 2019, Feige said, “you look at the success of Captain Marvel and Black Panther…We want the movies to reflect the audience and we want every member of our global audience to see themselves reflected on the screen.”
“And that’s what we’ve been doing for a long time. And certainly, that’s what we’re focusing on going forward.”
At last year’s Comic Con, Marvel announced Phase 4 of the franchise – a new era of diversity and inclusion within the MCU. In an interview with Inverse, Marvel Studios Executive Trinh Tran said, “female representation, the diversity of it all, is very important because this is the world we live in.”
“There’s so many different people out there and in order for us to relate to them, we have to make movies that are different. We can’t always be about one race or gender. That’s not the way to connect with the world.”
While many of the original Marvel comics lacked in diversity, there is a clear effort to try and rectify this in casting and storyline adjustments, and it’s definitely a step in the right direction.