Tessa Thompson has added fuel to Anthony Mackie’s recent comments on the Marvel Cinematic Universe by stressing the importance of racial diversity and LGBTQ+ representation in the films.
The actress, who plays the MCU’s first queer character, Valkyrie, spoke with Ramy Youssef for Variety’s Actors on Actors series. In the interview, she shared that representation in the Marvel franchise has a powerful impact.
“The truth is these movies travel globally in such huge ways, and if you can represent people that are of colour, if you can represent people with disabilities, if you can represent the LGBTQIA community inside of these films, it’s a pretty big deal,” she said.
She went on to speak about the significance of not only featuring diverse characters but the need to portray diverse characters of all kinds. Thompson explained that there is too much responsibility that comes with being “the only one”.
“You look at the way that Black and brown people are portrayed in the media, and there’s a sameness — we’re obsessed with watching Black pain and Black and brown criminality,” she said.
“I want for us to be able to exist in ways that we’ve never existed before.”
On queer representation specifically, Tessa Thompson shared that she’s glad to see Valkyrie hold an important place in the Marvel franchise because there are “so many cool queer characters in the comic books, and they should have a place on screen”.
ICYMI, Anthony Mackie also made headlines in recent weeks after speaking out about the racism that exists in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The actor, who famously holds the role of Falcon (now technically Captain America) in many of Marvel’s films, spoke openly about the lack of diversity that exists behind the camera in the MCU.
In an interview with Daveed Diggs for Variety’s actors on actors, Mackie spoke about the double-standard that has existed in films like Black Panther, compared to other Marvel productions.
“It really bothered me that I’ve done seven Marvel movies where every producer, every director, every stunt person, every costume designer, every PA, every single person has been white,” he said.
“We’ve had one Black producer; his name was Nate Moore,” Mackie continued.
“He produced ‘Black Panther’. But then when you do ‘Black Panther,’ you have a Black director, Black producer, a Black costume designer, a Black stunt choreographer. And I’m like, that’s more racist than anything else. Because if you only can hire the Black people for the Black movie, are you saying they’re not good enough when you have a mostly white cast?”
He continued to speak on the issue, stressing that he wants to use his platform to push Marvel to hire the best people for the job. The actor stressed that he feels roles need to go to a more diverse group of people going forward, even if that means “we’ve got to divvy out” gigs.
“Because it starts to build a new generation of people who can put something on their résumé to get them other jobs,” he explained.
Anthony Mackie is currently starring in Marvel’s Falcon and the Winter Soldier series. He plans to use his leading role in this series to push for change in the name of representation and equality.
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