Marvel’s first big screen gay couple finally revealed in new footage of sci-fi epic Eternals
New Eternals footage teases the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s first LGBT+ family. (YouTube/Marvel Entertainment)
Eternals‘ most recent teaser has shown off some brand-new footage as well as glimpses at Marvel’s first on-screen LGBT+ family.
Marvel dropped new footage from the studio’s next superhero flick which promises to be an action-packed epic. In the 30-second teaser, fans get their first look at the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s (MCU) first LGBT+ family.
The clip showed Bryan Tyree Henry’s Phastos, the first openly gay superhero in the MCU, his husband (Haaz Sleiman) and their child meeting Richard Madden and Gemma Chan’s characters.
The heroes encounter the family outside what appears to be their suburban home during the autumn (potentially close to Halloween) if the plethora of orange and yellow leaves on the ground and a pumpkin in the background are anything to go by.
Phastos’ child, who is named Jack if the Marvel teaser’s subtitles are to be believed, recognises Ikaris, who has come to visit the family along with Sersi. He excitedly tells his dad that he saw Ikaris on TV “with a cape and shooting laser beams”.
“I don’t wear a cape,” Ikaris told the child.
Fans have previously seen Phastos and gotten a glimpse of his powers as an alien inventor extraordinaire who has been helping humanity from the shadows for years. However, this is the first time the public has seen Sleiman’s character and his child with Phastos.
Sleiman recently told Out magazine that he felt “lucky” and “grateful” to be cast as the husband of Henry’s character because he felt that he could “humanise the hell out of it”.
“I don’t want to sound arrogant, but I feel like Marvel, they were very smart to cast me in it because I got to humanise the hell out of it,” Sleiman said. “I got to humanise an LGBTQ+ family and show how beautiful they are.”
The openly gay actor added that he thought that queer families are “way healthier than regular families” because “we stay together, and there’s so much love”.
The new Eternals’ teaser also showed Don Lee’s Gilgamesh using his immense powers to punch a Deviant – monstrous aliens who the immortal heroes, the Eternals, protect humanity from – charging at him head-on in a desert-like setting.
Speaking in Entertainment Weekly, Henry said he’s “always been a huge fan” of the MCU and “never in a million years thought” he’d be a part of it, especially in such a big role.
“I’ve been obsessed with the concept of superheroes and the concept of mankind needing saving,” Henry said. “And I think that when you get this group of people together, who just have these intimate senses of superpowers and saving humanity, it’s something that we all kind of need.”
He added: “It literally brings everyone together regardless of where you’re from. I’m still freaking out that I’m a part of it.”
Eternals opens in theatres on 5 November.
