Marvel Studios has ended the suspense and announced both the identity of the first openly gay character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and the actor that will play him on screen in The Eternals.
Richard Madden, the acclaimed actor of films like Rocketman and the HBO series Game of Thrones will play Ikaris, a 20,000-year-old human augmented with cosmic energy. Ikaris spends milliannia hopping around the galaxy before returning to Earth as a superhero. According to legend within the Marvel universe, the character is actually the dove sent by God after destroying the world in the Noah’s Ark story.
Related: Marvel casting director promises LGBTQ characters in future films
Madden, who trained with the Royal Shakespeare Company, joins Oscar-winning queer actress Angelina Jolie, Gemma Chan, Kumail Nanjiani, Salma Hayek, Brian Tyree Henry, Barry Keoghan and Don Lee in the film for director Chloe Zhao.
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Much rumor has swirled over the casting of The Eternals since Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige announced that the film would feature a gay leading character–the first-ever for the MCU. Casting calls also went out to a number of out-gay actors to test for the role, including Brian Jordan Alvarez, Wilson Cruz and Conrad Ricamora. Richard Madden has played a number of gay characters in films, most recently the music impresario John Reid in Rocketman. As for his own sexuality, Madden remains mum, though romantically he has been linked to actress Jenna Coleman and actor Brandon Flynn.
The Eternals hits the big screen in November 2020.
A few bonus pictures of Mr. Madden showing off his…credentials…
DomitoJo
this man is effing beautiful. and the irish accent sends me over the edge!! though, i must type, the eternals does not seem at all interesting to me. and tbh, kinda dumb.
inorez
An Irish accent IS sexy, but it’s not Richard Madden’s. He’s from Scotland.
djmcgamester
@inorez: Scottish is also sexy. 😉
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
100% co-sign! Love any type of brouge. I hooked with this South African guy once. He asked me what I wanted to him to do. I said just keep talking :-p
Cam
And let me guess, they won’t give him any love interest, no male “Lois Lane” but they WILL give him lots of flirty banter with a woman so that thy won’t offend any bigots. (Eye roll).
Selverd
When did Marvel announce this? I can’t find any other site reporting on Madden’s role being revealed or that he’s playing the gay character.
jayceecook
They announced his casting and role at SDCC two weeks ago or so. Haven’t heard anything about his character being gay though. It’s possible because Makkari is male in comics but female and deaf in the film. So they obviously are open to changing the source material.
it me
That’s the thing, though. Marvel announced the casting, but they did NOT announce that Ikaris will be gay. This article implies that they did, which is incorrect. Sure, Ikaris might turn out to be the gay character, but it’s really irresponsible of Queerty to report this as fact when it’s not … at least not yet.
Catholicslutbox
Why does this closet case keep getting all the gay roles?
Surely there was someone better and attractive out there.
jjose712
The “closet case” goes with his boyfriend all the time, he is not exactly hiding it
djmcgamester
I’m sold on him. Really hot and thought he did well as Robb Stark. For the sake of mythological consistency (adopted this name for his son, who died when he flew too close to the sun and the heat melted the wax holding his wings together) I hope he’s bisexual. Wouldn’t be strange for a Greek anyway.
Yes, I know this is a departure from the comics but there’s still mythology to consider. Anyway, I do hope he gets a male love interest of some sort. It’s pointless to make him gay (if that’s the route they’re going over bi) if he’s neutered.
@Catholicslutbox: Good to know you’ve been reading Madden’s emails and text messages, as well as listening in on his phone conversations. Rumors don’t equal truth. Show me the evidence.
RandomGuy
So they cast a guy that “might” be gay or bi but won’t even admit to it…way to go Marvel!
skeldare
Nowhere did they announce that Richard Madden’s character would be gay. People are just speculating due to the fact that he’s a closet case and Marvel said they were casting an out gay actor.
OzJosh
He needs to do something about that grey streak in his hair. It’s making him look like Anne Bancroft in The Graduate.
jayceecook
I find it sexy.
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
Awesome analogy :-p
it me
I love his grey streak! It’s sexy as hell.
GymMan456
I think its made : )
Wicked Dickie
I would have preferred Luke Evans.
nitejonboy
Luke would be nice, but he’ll barely even talk about being gay, he’s still so scared of what it’s going to do to his career, which it has seemed to hurt at times.
Donston
No one has to talk about anything. But it does seem that he (like Lee Pace) is very calculated and uncomfortable due to being almost forced to publicly come out and also being scared of getting branded a “gay actor”. While Richard Madden isn’t actively trying to hide that he’s been dating a guy for a half year, he also won’t “confirm” it. All of this is what it is.
Aromaeus
Why can’t they ever seem to hire American actors??
nitejonboy
Because the foreign actors do American accents even better than Americans,lol.
Yooper
Well, there were a few American actors in the listing. That said, my opinion, Brits produce a better actor, maybe their training.