Courtney Balcombe

Staff Writer

clb6264@psu.edu

With the latest release of the Marvel Cinematic Universe film “Eternals,” many countries took to banning the film. This included Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Qatar. This is all because of the queer superhero Phastos.

Marvel has made only a few firsts in the film industry, for example, the first black superhero Black Panther played by Chadwick Bosman. They have also cast Brian Tyree Henry as Phastos, which is another black lead character as well as the first gay superhero.

I agree with what Haaz Sleiman, who plays Phastos’ husband Ben, said about how “marvel stood their ground” in not agreeing to make the change. He also said that the countries looked “ignorant and pathetic.”

Which is true, but that’s because Marvel is constantly changing with each new release, not only have their films changed cinematographic styles over the years, but they have adapted to their audiences old and new.

Along with Sleiman, Angelina Jolie who plays Thena the Goddess of War, addressed her pain for the audiences who won’t get to see “Eternals” due to their views on the same-sex relationship.

“I’m sad for [those audiences]. And I’m proud of Marvel for refusing to cut those scenes out,” Jolie said. “I still don’t understand how we live in a world today where there’s still [people who] would not see the family Phastos has and the beauty of that relationship and that love.”

Jolie added how people who are “angry about it, threatened by it, don’t approve or appreciate it are ignorant.”

For the countries that banned “Eternals” the audiences will not get to see a loving same-sex couple raising their son while also fighting to save the world, again, the family moments are pure joy. Any child with same-sex parents can relate to this child, even though their parent might not be a superhero, they still have parents that love and will do anything for them.

Anyone requesting that a film be banned or changed due to conflicting views shows that those countries are, as Sleiman said, “ignorant and pathetic.” Mainly banning this film simply because of the queer relationship shows that they won’t bother to change their governments. Those same governments could give their people the choice to choose whether they watch a two and a half hour movie with maybe 10 minutes of the same-sex relationship.

People who are uncomfortable with something they see have every chance to leave the theatre rather than sit through that. Without that option, what chance do they have to ever experience something so heart-felt in a Marvel movie? They probably won’t, but with how Marvel is changing and growing they may begin to create more firsts.