Marvel’s first gay superhero has been met with great anticipation and all too predictable backlash. Phastos, played by Brian Tyree Henry in Eternals, has drawn a divisive response — between fans eager for queer representation and homophobic trolls decrying it.
Kit Harington, for one, is a big fan of the groundbreaking character.
"I've said before, I don't know why we haven't got LGBTQ+ representation in superhero movies and in this one we do, and that's just so important,” the Games of Thrones star told Out in a recent interview. “I think it is such a moment, and all I can hope is that this is the start of many, many more.”
Harington, who plays Dane Whitman, aka The Black Knight, said Phastos’ inclusion in Eternals especially attracted him to sign on. "Phastos is one of my favorite characters in this. He's awesome," Harington said. "It actually was a big reason I wanted to be part of this."
The British actor had previously called out the studio for its lack of LGBTQ+ representation. “There’s a big problem with masculinity and homosexuality that they can’t somehow go hand in hand,” Harington told Variety in 2018.
“That we can’t have someone in a Marvel movie who’s gay in real life and plays some superhero. I mean, when is that going to happen?”
Then came Phastos. Henry’s character has a partner in the film, played by openly gay actor Haaz Sleiman. The couple shares a kiss, and they have kids. Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige told Variety in October that Phastos is “just the start,” promising more queer characters in future movies.
But even prior to its U.S. release, “review bombers” tanked the movie’s ratings explicitly based on its inclusion of a queer storyline. Now, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait have reversed plans to show the film, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter. Sources suggested the “likely” cause is that Eternals features a same-sex couple.
Director Chloé Zhao said in an interview last month that her “desire” was that the film would not be censored to remove its queer storyline in overseas markets.
Angelina Jolie, who plays Thena, spoke out against the backlash over the weekend. “How anybody is angry about it, threatened by it, doesn’t approve or appreciate it is ignorant,” she told Australian news outlet news.com of countries not releasing the film.
Sleiman spoke to Variety about the ban last week, after Marvel reportedly refused to edit certain scenes out. For Sleiman, who is Lebanese, Eternals is more than just a chance to play a gay role as a gay actor — he also speaks in Arabic.
“That moment shows the love between me and Phastos, and it’s a statement on its own that you hear someone speak like that,” he told Variety. “I never thought I would see that, let alone that I got to do it.”
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