Marvel executive Victoria Alonso has commented on Doctor Strange 2 character America Chavez's LGBTQ identity, confirming that the movie will be sticking to that detail from the comics.
America will be played by Xochitl Gomez in the movie (officially titled Doctor Strange in the Multiverse Madness). She's a teenager with the ability to travel between dimensions by punching open doorways, who's struggling to come to terms with what makes her different.
"[America] is a young Latina who is part of the LGBTQ+ community, and has great power," Alonso said in a new interview with Marvel.com. "Children want to see themselves represented. There is this level of identity that comes to be a very important moment in an adolescent's life – to see themselves; to not be invisible."
The Doctor Strange sequel has been banned in Saudi Arabia and Egypt and it was recently revealed that the movie includes 12 seconds of footage that Disney refused to take out which references America Chavez's mothers.
"It's so cool that fans will get to see a young person in the middle of a big story like this, and know that things that happen in our kid lives are important because it shapes who they'll become when they're older as adults," Gomez added. "It's exciting that we will hopefully get to see more of how things play out for America in the future."
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness arrives on the big screen on May 6. In the meantime, make sure you're up to date with the MCU with our guide to Marvel Phase 4.
