Brian Tyree Henry is set to make history as the first Marvel Cinematic Universe’s first openly gay superhero!
Best known for his role as Alfred “Paper Boi” Miles in the hit TV series, Atlanta and his most recent role as Carl in the Joker movie, the 37-year-old actor will play the character Phastos (a married man) in Marvel’s upcoming film, The Eternals.Actor Haaz Sleiman who is Gay in Real Life
—who stars as the husband of Brians’s character—revealed the news about the
upcoming film while chatting with New Now Next.
Haaz Sleiman is a Lebanese actor. He most notably played the role of Tarek in the 2007 film The Visitor for which he was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male and the role of Jesus in the American TV mini-series Killing Jesus, in addition to a number of American TV series.
“I just shot a Marvel film with the first openly gay superhero, The Eternals,” told New Now Next. “I’m married to the gay superhero Phastos, played by Atlanta’s Brian Tyree Henry, and we represent a gay family and have a child.”
When asked if fans can look forward to seeing any affection between the characters, Haaz shared we can definitely expect MCU’s first gay kiss. “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.”
He continued, “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 that human part.”
Eternals hit theaters November 6.
Weighing in. Amid the news that Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman have dismissed theatrical releases of Marvel’s Eternals over censorship complaints, star Angelina Jolie opened up about her thoughts on the “ignorant” decision.
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“I’m sad for [those audiences],” the Salt actress, 46, told news.com.au during a press conference, which was published on Friday, November 5. “And I’m proud of Marvel for refusing to cut those scenes out.”
The Middle Eastern countries previously refused to screen the MCU flick after insisting that the studio cut the film’s scenes of a same-sex relationship and an onscreen kiss, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The countries requested that Marvel cut such romantic scenes before its global release on November 11. When the studio refused to censor the Chloe Zhao-directed picture, movie theater websites in those countries — where homosexuality is illegal — seemingly deleted Eternals as an upcoming film.