Since it was announced that in the upcoming Marvel Studios THE ETERNALS one of the immortal heroes would be the studios first openly gay superhero many people were wondering which star would fill that void. Now we have an answer to that quandry.
Thanks to Haaz Sleiman, we now know that it is indeed Phastos played by Bryan Tyree Henry. It is not known the name of Sleiman’s character, but we do know that he’ll be Phastos’ husband.
NewNowNext spoke with Sleiman, and asked if we can expect a gay kiss in the movie and he confirmed that will indeed be happening. “Oh yeah, absolutely, and it’s a beautiful, very moving kiss,” he says. “Everyone cried on set. For me it’s very important to show how loving and beautiful a queer family can be.” He goes on to say “Brian Tyree Henry is such a tremendous actor and brought so much beauty into this part, and at one point I saw a child in his eyes, and I think it’s important for the world to be reminded that we in the queer community were all children at one point,” “We forget that because we’re always depicted as sexual or rebellious. We forget to connect on the human part.”
Marvel Studios has gone on record saying that they wanted their casts and stories to be more diverse and inclusive. This includes director Joe Russo as a gay man rebounding with his life after the Thanos snap, while speaking in a meeting conducted by Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) in AVENGERS ENDGAME. It will be interesting to see if the studio faces any backlash with the characters in the superhero flick.
THE ETERNALS hit theaters on November 6, 2020.
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