Marvel’s committed to working on better representation across the board in the MCU going forward. In terms of LGBT characters, Avengers: Endgame subtly broke ground with Joe Russo’s small role, while Thor: Love and Thunder is set to establish Valkyrie’s sexuality as she looks for a queen. It sounds like there’ll be many more gay heroes alongside her in the future, too, and we might just know who one of them will be.
We Got This Covered has heard that another LGBT superhero will be introduced in Captain Marvel 2 in the form of Hulkling. Despite his name, Hulkling isn’t actually a relative of Bruce Banner’s or a victim of gamma radiation but rather, is a heroic teen Skrull. The first Captain Marvel already explored the surprising kindness of the shapeshifting race, so it’d definitely be easy to introduce Hulkling in the sequel.
Furthermore, our sources – the same ones who told us the real Mandarin will be in Shang-Chi, and that Taskmaster will be the villain in Black Widow, both of which are now confirmed – have explained that he’ll have a small role in CM2 but will feature more prominently in Young Avengers, which we’ve previously reported could be coming to Disney Plus relatively soon. The character will be depicted as openly gay as well and, as per the comics, will have a romance with Wiccan, Scarlet Witch’s son who we believe will make his MCU debut in WandaVision.
It’s worth noting, too, that Teddy Altman – as is his human name – is the son of the original Captain Marvel, Mar-Vell, in the comics, with his mother being a Skrull princess. In the MCU, Mar-Vell is a woman, so Hulkling could have her for a mother instead with a Skrull father. This would fit with Mar-Vell’s kindness to the Skrulls in CM, too.
Of course, many Captain Marvel fans have campaigned to have Carol Danvers come out in the sequel, something that we’re not entirely sure is the plan but the filmmakers haven’t ruled out. Whatever happens on that front, though, it’s good that Captain Marvel 2 looks set to widen the MCU’s pool of LGBT characters all the same.