Marvel is up and ready to diversify casting for upcoming projects, this time by introducing the franchise’s first ever transgender character.
It’s not yet clear which project the character will feature in, though Geeks WorldWide speculates that she will appear in Thor: Love and Thunder.
“Jessica” is a role for a transwoman actress of any ethnicity in her 20s to 30s” the website claims.
There’s probably a high chance this character could be Sera, who is an Anchorite in the comics, a small group of male angels who were kept inside a temple in Heven, in the Tenth Realm. Sera was the only one fo the Anchorites who identified as a woman.
Sera was kept in the temple until she met Angela, Thor’s long-lost half-sister, helping her defeat a monster. It would all make perfect sense then that the next Thor movie will introduce the character.
We already know that Valkyrie has been confirmed as the franchise’s first openly LGBTQ+ character.
Appearing at the Marvel Studios Comic-Con panel, Thompson told the audience: “As new king, she needs to find her queen. So that will be the first order of business.
“She has some ideas. I’ll keep you posted.”
MCU boss Kevin Feige clarified whether Thompson’s comments meant her character would have an LGBTQ+ storyline, telling io9: “The answer is yes.”
“How that impacts the story remains to be seen with that level of representation you’ll see across our films, not in just Thor 4.“
Marvel has been previously questioned over the lack of representation in movies. Endgamefeatured the studio’s first openly gay character, played by co-director Joe Russo, though the part was only a minor one.
Marvel production chief, Victoria Alonso, recently said “the world is ready” for an openly gay superhero when discussing the Eternals cast.
“We are going to cast the best Eternals cast that we can, and when we’re ready to announce it, we promise you we will,” she said.
“Why wouldn’t we be [committed to diversity]? Why wouldn’t we be? I’m so passionate about this, I’ve got to tell you. Our entire success is based on people that are incredibly different.
“Why wouldn’t we? Why would we only want to be recognised by only one type of person? Our audience is global, is diverse, is inclusive. If we don’t do it that way for them, we will fail. If we don’t put pedal to the metal on the diversity and the inclusivity, we will not have continued success.
“Our determination is to have that for all of the people out there watching our movies.”
Three cheers for equality!
Featured Image Credit: Marvel