Marvel Studios’ Executive Vice President of Production says she wants to see more on-screen diversity in their record-breaking comic book films.
Speaking to the BBC on their Talking Movies program, Victoria Alonso said the movie giant still has a lot of work to do when it comes to representing queer, Latinx and Asian people in their movies.
“You don’t get to have this kind of success if the entire world doesn’t see your product, so we are determined to have every one of those people represented in our films in some way,” Alonso said.
“Now, we only make two or three movies a year, so it’s difficult to have every single one, but it is definitely one of the things that we have in our minds all the time.”
The films have been criticised for their lack of diversity when drawing characters from the sprawling Marvel comic book universe for the screen, as well as in their casting.
Bisexual actor Tessa Thompson was cast a queer goddess Valkyrie in the Thor series of films. Though her LGBTIQ+ identity was confirmed by Marvel Studios, her sexuality was never mentioned on-screen.
“I think we haven’t represented the Latin community in general. I think that’s something that we have to do better. The gay community has not been represented whatsoever. I’m gay, so I can tell you that I long for that,” Alonso continued.
“I think we haven’t represented the Asian community well. I think we’ve had some representation, but it’s minimum, and we would like to represent in a big way.”
