New ‘Eternals’ Teaser Features Marvel’s First Openly Gay Character

Following a short peek earlier this year at the film, Marvel fans are getting a new teaser for the upcoming Eternals movie and a look at the first gay couple to appear in a Marvel film.

The plot revolves around the titular Eternals, a race of immortal beings who come out of hiding to save Earth from forces of evil, taking place after the events of Avengers: Endgame.

Bryan Tyree Henry stars as one of the Eternals, Phastos, who, according to NPR, is the weapons maker for the immortal heroes and a “tech quy” married to another man, played by Haaz Sleiman.

A scene from the trailer also reveals the couple have a child together. It shows fellow Eternals members Sersi (Gemma Chan) and Ikaris (Richard Madden) in Phastos’ driveway while his son calls references Ikaris, “Dad, I saw him on TV! With the cape, shooting laser beams!” to which Ikaris playfully retorts, “I don’t wear a cape.”

The quaint family scene has many fans hoping that this isn’t just a tease, rather a sign of a more sizeable, queer storyline in this Marvel film with more to come in the future.

The push for more LGBTQ representation in the MCU has been persistent, and so far, the only canonically LGBTQ superhero in the universe is Tom Hiddleston’s Loki, who was revealed as bisexual earlier this year. However, it stopped essentially at the comment that Loki “enjoys a little of both” in his romantic life.

Tessa Thompson’s Valkyrie from Thor: Ragnarok would have technically been the first, but the scene confirming her bisexuality was edited out of the film for unknown reasons, though Thompson indicated that her queerness will be explored in 2022’s Thor: Love and Thunder during a Comic-Con panel.

While Joe Russo, who co-directed Avengers: Endgame with his brother Anthony, briefly appeared in the film as an unnamed gay man, Phastos is the Marvel’s first openly gay character (who has a name) to appear in an MCU film. Sleiman gave fans another tidbit of intel earlier this year, telling NewNowNext that Eternals will feature a “beautiful, very moving kiss.”

We’ll have to wait until November 5 to see if Marvel steps up to the plate and gives fans some of the representation they’ve been craving. In the meantime, check out the teaser for yourself here:

Teaser screenshot courtesy of Marvel