Avengers: Endgame featured the MCU’s first openly gay character. That’s a fact, although the scene ruffled a few feathers because the character only appeared onscreen once before evaporating from the narrative. He was a nameless grieving man, played by co-director Joe Russo, who spoke about missing his snapped, same-sex partner while attending Captain America’s support group. Steve Rogers offered a few words of support to the man, and that was that, and on with defeating Thanos.
An io9 writer, Charles Pulliam-Moore, specifically took issue with how the character’s “presence comes across like an inconsequential afterthought,” and the Russo Brothers subsequently dropped word to EW Morning Live that while Joe embodied the MCU’s first “openly gay” character, there’s also a character who is “secretly gay,” and Joe added, “I think Kevin [Feige] will make that announcement, I’m sure pretty soon.” Joe stated that this would be an “openly gay” character, as opposed to a character with “insinuations” made about their sexuality, who would appear in a future Marvel movie.
Feige has now further addressed the matter while speaking directly to io9 about how Joe’s Endgame character wasn’t meant to be “our first hero” who’s LGBT, and he promised more LGBT prominence “soon”:
“That was never meant to be our first focused character. That was just meant to be a matter of fact and a matter of life and a matter of truth. And I liked it that our hero, Steve Rogers, doesn’t blink an eye at that fact. It is just truth and is heartbreaking for his loss and for the life he’s trying to put back together. It was never meant to be looked at as our first hero. I guess it’s the first reference so it does, of course, get a lot of attention.
“We haven’t been shy about saying that that’s coming and that there’s much more prominent LGBT heroes in the future … [it’s] coming soon.”
Feige’s words appear to follow up on the Russos’ statements, as well as telling fans that the MCU never intended to treat its first openly gay character as inconsequential, merely “matter of fact.” Of course, this will now further fuel speculation of who the already-established prominent LGBT superhero shall be. Valkyrie, played by Tessa Thompson, has already been revealed by the Russo Brothers to have rebuffed Thor’s advances in a deleted Endgame scene and was revealed to like both girls in boys in a deleted Thor: Ragnarok scene. And of course, fans have been shipping Bucky Barnes and Steve Rogers for a solid decade, although Steve’s heart very clearly belongs to Peggy Carter (an unquenchable thirst for which he arguably messed up the timeline to satisfy). In other words, stand by for more updates from Kevin Feige.
(Via EW)