Let Phastos Be GAY! (VIDEO SCRIPT)

Dear Marvel Studios,

Hi there. My name is La'Ron Readus, and I'm a black queer fan of...71 and a half percent of your available slate of work upon the release of this video. Yes I actually did the math.

I’m mentioning this about myself because on November 5th, 2021, you’re going to be releasing the movie Eternals, based on the group of characters created by Jack Kirby, and ONLY Jack Kirby. Rest in Peace, Stan Lee

In this movie, as part of your promise to display more positive queer representation in your titles since your...hilarious stepping stone ala Act 1 of Avengers Endgame...

You revealed that Brian Tyree Henry -- aka Paperboy from FX’s Atlanta -- will be playing the Eternal Phastos.

Who, in the MCU, you stated will be a male-slash-masculine presenting humanoid in a committed matrimonial romantic relationship with a human male.

This is a phenomenal bit of representation for me in ways that I have never seen myself represented in the MCU before.

While Black Panther was no doubt a triumph of a film and provided a great deal of representation for Africans and African Americans nationwide, this will be the first time I will see myself possibly be represented in a Marvel Studios production FULLY...

In the form of seeing a black, heavyset and queer male character on screen in a story based on one of the creatives Marvel Comics CONSTANTLY takes for granted, even after his death.

The reason why I said POSSIBLY however, is because I know how your parent company Disney operates when it comes to presenting blatant queer representation on the big screen.

Which is why I’m demanding in this video, Marvel Studios. LET US SEE PHASTOS BE QUEER.

One of the main problems I have with Hollywood studios currently trying to make proper steps in presenting more queer characters to mainstream media in a more positive light than the ones they were forced to present them in the past...

Is that they’re too afraid to properly do so because they risk losing the chance of the project making money in certain countries overseas.

Factor that in with the constant interference of studio executives and their default heteronormativity, and it feels like only the bare minimum is presented for movies with main queer characters that can easily be adjusted for them to be depicted as less queer for other nations; most of the times even pushed to the side to focus on the hetero characters

Back in May of 2021, I released a video on the once Sony Animation now Netflix Original animated movie The Mitchells vs The Machines, where I explained and delivered all of these same reasonings regarding the main character Katie -- who is an out lesbian in the film -- and why it felt that her queerness wasn’t as easily depicted in the movie as the straightness of her younger brother.

There were plenty of ways to easily incorporate her pride over the course of the movie, and I gave plenty of examples of when and how in the comment section of the video

Her mom loves making home movies, so maybe her family threw her a surprise “Congrats on Coming Out” party that she recorded that fed into the “My parents are so embarrassing vibe” she gave off was a prime example.

And while individuals who meant well made their disagreement with my thoughts on how the movie handled Katie’s queerness known

And while troll and bot accounts that were created within 1 or 2 years of the time I posted the video pretended to be individuals who meant well made their disagreement with my thoughts on how the movie handled Katie’s queerness known

The fact is that while queer people seek representation equal to that of our straight counterparts, we are constantly only reserved one scene...

One that can be easily re-translated or edited out without affecting the overall story so that anti-queer countries will approve the movie to be shown overseas...

That displays such depictions in these movies, while all the others are reserved for hetero characters for the sake of normalcy, when normalizing queerness is supposed to be the goal.

From what I’ve seen in the final trailer you shared with us Marvel Studios, you have set up Phastos to be one of the most intelligent and empathic characters in your roster of MCU heroes so far that is also in a loving relationship with his husband, who you ALSO cast in the movie. So let us see that. MORE THAN ONCE.

Let us see them cook dinner together. Let’s see them go grocery shopping. Let’s see them hold hands. Let’s see Phastos’ husband consult and hold him when he’s overcome with emotion. Let’s see them in love.

Let’s see them do all the things that a couple in a PG-13 superhero movie normally would do if they were a straight one, as opposed to only reserving ONE scene of the two of them and all the others to the straight-identifying characters. Because THAT’S what it means to normalize queerness.

And you should know that. Because thanks to your decision to wrap Ike Perlmutter up in duct tape, you did the same thing with blackness.

You brought that change to the status quo to the international box office with Black Panther, years after being told that a story featuring a black superhero wouldn’t do well overseas.

Not only did it do TREMENDOUSLY well, but it also proved a point about how much influence whiteness truly had on the world that wouldn’t have really been challenged otherwise

I know this, because I saw with my own eyes Koreans who didn’t realize that Africans and African descendants -- ie, me -- could be considered beautiful until they saw Black Panther.

With you making the decision to depict Phastos as black, big and queer, you have the opportunity to do so much for people like me who constantly want to see themselves in superhero films.

Once upon a time, Marvel prided itself in differentiating itself from DC Comics because they felt that Marvel heroes were more relatable to their readers as opposed to the monoliths that are Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and the remainder of the Justice League.

Excuse me while I hold you to that pride, now more than ever

Sincerely, La’Ron Readus. A black, bi, and tired individual.

PS. Don’t kill off Phastos’ husband for character development. (Pause) No. (Pause) No. We’re fucking tired of that trope.