The Eternals will bring a whole new ensemble of heroes into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with the titular cosmic beings being brought to life by a number of big actors. And among these new characters will be the franchise’s first openly gay hero. We’ve known about this for a while, of course, but only today have we received confirmation on who exactly it’ll be.
For a while, it was rumored that Ikaris would be the gay character, but apparently, that’s not so. While he was reportedly portrayed this way in the original script, things changed throughout production and now, we can confirm that Phastos, as played by Brian Tyree Henry, will be gay in the film.
We know this thanks to actor Haaz Sleiman, who’ll appear as Phastos’ husband in The Eternals and recently shared the following in an interview when asked if there will be a kiss between the two characters:
“Oh yeah, absolutely, and it’s a beautiful, very moving kiss. Everyone cried on set. For me it’s very important to show how loving and beautiful a queer family can be. 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.”
Unfortunately, not much at all is known about the plot of The Eternals just yet, aside from what was in that official synopsis that we got earlier this year, but it’s expected to be the most out-there cosmic entry that we’ve seen yet in the MCU. There’ve also been whispers that it’ll do a bit of work to help plant the seeds for the debut of mutants in the franchise, with its post-credits scene rumored to set the stage for the X-Men.
That hasn’t been confirmed just yet, mind you, but it’s certainly shaping up to be a pretty interesting outing for the franchise all things considered. And we’ll get to see just what Marvel’s been cooking up for us when The Eternals descends into theaters on November 6th.