It appears Marvel won’t be introducing a transgender character to the MCU “very soon” after all.
Last week, during an appearance as a guest speaker at an event for the New York Film Academy, Marvel boss Kevin Feige appeared to confirm that a transgender character was being introduced to the MCU.
He was asked whether there were future plans for any LGBTQ+ characters, “specifically trans characters,” to which he replied: “Yes, absolutely yes.”
He added that a transgender character would be joining the MCU “very soon, in a movie that we’re shooting right now.”
It has now been revealed by two sources close to the studio that Feige only intended to respond to the first part about LGBT+ characters, and he did not mean to imply that a transgender character would be coming to the MCU “very soon” (via Variety).
At the time of his New York Film Academy appearance, the only MCU movie in production was Eternals. Directed by Chloe Zhao, Feige confirmed in August that the movie – which stars Richard Madden, Angelina Jolie, Salma Hayek, Kumail Nanjiani, Gemma Chan, Kit Harington, Barry Keoghan, and Brian Tyree Henry – will feature the MCU’s first major gay character. Feige did not specify who it would be.
“He’s married, he’s got a family, and that is just part of who he is,” Feige told Good Morning America while at the D23 Expo last year.
There has been plenty of discussion over whether a third movie in the series would happen, especially after the film’s studio Fox merged with Disney.