Disney's 'First Openly Gay Couple' Lacks Depth

[Image description: Ben and Phastos outside their residence on Earth, one of the most used images for the Disney couple.]

Ben: the Eternal's Laura Barton

I wanted to do a short review of the character Ben in Eternals because he's in my wheelhouse being gay and MENA and also because he's LITERALLY the first named character played by a MENA actor in the MCU since Iron Man 1's Ho Yinsen and the Ten Rings. Which was a long ass time ago.

So, in the same year as the first Muslim characters to appear onscreen since 2008's Iron Man 1, we also got a side character (an upgrade from a walk on, I guess?) in Ben Stoss, the partner to one of the Eternal's main characters.

I'm reviewing Ben only, by the way. I'm not reviewing the movie as I remain unmoved by it and honestly don't care. I am Eternals-ambivalent... possibly leaning into averse because it's Disney.

The reason I feel this way is because of how Disney has treated us queer fans leading up to this supposedly 'momentous' event of 'the MCU's first openly gay couple', and I'll circle back to this later in my review.

To start off, when press first started for Eternals Disney was crowing about its 'first ever gay character' and 'first openly gay couple' etc. etc., so I went on a hunt to find out more about Phastos's husband as he is (presumably) an entirely new and MCU creation. (Like Laura Barton, who he basically is in terms of role/screen time/importance to the overall story.)

What struck me from the get-go was how little information we had about Phastos's husband, not even a first name. You can read my quest to search for his name here.

Eventually, on October 25 barely a few days before the film's release, we got a name listing on IMDB: Ben.

Now some may wonder why I'm so concerned with the details. If you're one of those people, let me explain so you'll understand: if there's no details about a character, why should an audience care about them? 

And, obviously, this is the goal of homophobic studio Disney: to present a bland, inoffensive cardboard cutout character to tick a diversity box while at the same time taking up as little space onscreen as possible so as not to offend the homophobic section of the audience nor the homophobic Disney investors. 

Even his name, Ben Stoss, is the most bland and western name a focus group could've come up with, yet the character is using Arabic words in his dialogue and is played by a MENA actor. But he can't appear TOO Middle Eastern or the western audience will self combust, right? (Eyeroll...)

Let's call this whole effort from Disney what it is:

[Principle Skinner voice] Pathetic!

Ben is barely a character, there's no background information about him (why does he have a Germanic last name? Did Disney even write up his backstory or do they only care about surface appearances? Rhetorical question...), there's no character poster along with the rest of the cast. He's briefly onscreen to prop up a Heteronormative image of a gay couple that's been deemed the least offensive to homophobes in order to appear in a Disney movie.

And you can bet Disney had several executive meetings about this: show the gay couples in front of a nice house, show them as a stable couple with a good income, show them with a kid for the Heteronormativity. It feels so staged, so Khaki, so devoid of any personality.

That onscreen kiss between Phastos and Ben was bland and devoid of passion. They're barely touching, like they've been directed to leave space for Jesus Mickey Mouse. Nothing about it felt genuine, or how a married couple would behave in that moment.

And this isn't a slight toward the actors, both of whom I like and respect. The blame for all this rests on Disney and Disney alone.

After all that fanfare about the MCU's 'first gay couple' and 'first gay character', I watched their brief scenes and their kiss and was left cold. Is that it, I wonder? Is that really it? (Spoiler alert: yes, that was it.)

Sure, some new-to-MCU fans may be thrilled about this focus-group-created-gay-couple.

I spoke to mutuals about their feelings/reactions on the character of Ben, too. MENA and Muslim fans are so under-represented in western media and the MCU, so of course we were excited to see a Muslim actor playing 'a goodie' for once. And a queer man to boot. We're excited to hear him use Arabic onscreen.

This should all have been amazing... and yet The Mouse disappoints again.

As a long time MCU fan and queer person, I feel nothing but disdain for Disney at this point for its many stumbles and failed attempts at diversity, and especially its many purposeful torpedoing of MAIN CHARACTERS who could EASILY BE QUEER REP but The Mouse forbade it.

Circling back to my earlier statement, as a queer fan watching MCU movies these are a list of queer rep (or at the very least queer possibility! Queer ambiguity!) that I would've rather seen:

Valkyrie's deleted scene from Thor: Ragnarok (and bless actress Tessa Thompson for speaking up in defence of her character's so far erased bisexuality).

Black Panther also cut a scene for Ayo and Okoye, who in the comics are both wlw and have a storyline together. 

Those are just a couple of canon LGBT+ examples that the MCU could've used already, but hasn't. 

Not to mention MCU couples that have been right there this whole time: Steve and Bucky (who can forget the fan driven hashtag of 'Give Captain America A Boyfriend'? Which was probably what riled Disney into torpedoing the ship in Avengers: Endgame), also Carol and Maria from Captain Marvel.

Both these mlm and wlw partnerships had so much subtext (romantic and platonic!) that won fans over, and all of them were main characters to their own movies.

But Disney tanked both these ships, purposely.

Disney sent Steve Rogers to the Jim Crow era to live a Heternormative and very out of character lifestyle with no more hero-ing for no good reason, and then Disney killed off Maria Rambeau for no good reason before the next Captain Marvel movie.

Those cold and calculated moves on Disney's part to separate two great same sex ships are a huge reason why I'm so done with the studio. Out of character nonsense and blatant homophobia make watching Disney's live action adaptations unbearable.

Loki's big 'reveal' on his Disney Plus show was a final nail in the coffin. 

Loki isn't a Marvel creation he's a Norse god and honestly any adaptation could be such a queer icon... but the MCU has him so MEEKLY skirting around any issue of sexuality, not even able to name humans (princes? Come on...). And then there's the issue of the long awaited character of Lady Loki not being Lady Loki at all, because of course Disney won't do anything that exciting, nor hire a gender fluid actor to play the part. No, we had to have another cis actor.

And you can bet that even after his vague reveal to be bi, the MCU will keep him in male/female relationships only. 

'The Corporate Bisexual' in media isn't genuine bi rep because despite the character's statements about being bi (or pan) the character is only ever shown in a male/female relationship of Heternormative standards to appease the homophobes. 

(See Lucifer on Fox/Netflix for another example of that.)

Side note: One funny moment was seeing MCU fans claim that since Sylvie is a Loki variant from another Universe, that means the Loki/Sylvie ship is incest, and Disney showrunners had to scramble and do damage control on that (x) (x). 

Ha-ha. A small slither of amusement among a clusterfuck of corporate nonsense.

I agree with the statement Russell T Davies (writer of beloved queer shows It's A Sin, and Torchwood) said about Loki's bisexual 'reveal': "A feeble gesture..."

And he's right.

Disney's efforts are entirely that: feeble, empty gestures.

Now that Kevin Feige has ticked diveristy boxes off his list, shall we set a timer to see how long it is before we see any other 'openly gay' characters onscreen? 

Will there be anything for Valkyrie in Thor: Love and Thunder? Will there be anything for Okoye and Ayo in Black Panther 2?

What about The Young Avengers? Will we get anything else in the next five, or ten years?

I'm not holding my breath, and if Disney is the one in creative control I simply can't see myself being moved by their 'diversity by focus group' approach to gay characters.

To reiterate, queer fans already loved Carol/Maria, Steve/Bucky, Okoye/Ayo, Valkyrie and Loki. They are/were all right there. Not using them, the main characters, and instead shoving in rando walk-on's like Gay Joe Russo, or only briefly showing background characters like Ben, Disney's message is loud and clear:

the only gay rep you're allowed is brief and off to the side, out of the way and unimportant to the plot. You don't matter, and you never did.

That doesn't endear me to the studio at all.

I demand better.

~*~

Have you spotted any MENA or Muslim characters in superhero media lately? Tell me!

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