Twitter Users Demanding Marvel #GiveCaptainAmericaABoyfriend

Alissa Lopez | May 24, 2016
DONATE
Font Size

 

Marvel and Disney just can’t seem to catch a break.

First there was the trending hashtag #GiveElsaAGirlfriend, and now, of course, we have #GiveCaptainAmericaABoyfriend. 

I always had the impression that dedicated fans of any sort of novel or comic book would insist that if a film version was made, the storyline be followed precisely as it was written. Oh, how terribly wrong I was. 

Jess Salerno is the individual who created the hashtag advocating that Marvel make Captain America gay, saying:

“I feel like it sucks that people in the LGBT community don’t get the representation that they deserve and it would be so amazing for something like Captain America or Marvel to be able to portray that.”

Fans should agree with me on this one: Captain America is definitely not gay. I've only seen the movies, but even I am aware of his utterly romantic but sadly unsuccessful romances with Agent Peggy Carter and her niece, Sharon.

Creating movies that closely follow an original storyline also has a lot to do with economics. If there is a chance of a movie being a complete flop, why throw millions of dollars into making it? Chances are, movies featuring straight characters have nothing to do with Hollywood being anti-gay. There's simply a larger portion of society demanding that the Disney and Marvel movies stick to a character’s original attributes. 

It's also likely that a majority of parents taking their young children to see a Disney or Marvel movie don’t want to shove a potentially uncomfortable and extremely confusing topic on their children. 

When something has repeatedly been extremely profitable in the past, I can guarantee you any smart businessman or woman won't change what they are doing.

Some Twitter users suggest that Captain America already has -- well, had -- a boyfriend: his wartime best friend, James Buchanan Barnes, a.k.a. Bucky. One user suggested:

One glance at Tumblr and you’ll see the pairing isn’t exactly new; people have been shipping the best friends since the first film.

The #GiveElsaAGirlfriend movement (or whatever you call it) pushing Disney to make the lead character of the hit move "Frozen" has been quite successful. But will this trending hashtag demanding that Captain America be given a boyfriend have the same effect? 

If the LGBTQ community wants “more representation” in Hollywood, why not demand that new movies, with new characters and new storylines, be created to fit your agenda. Absolutely no one is stopping you from doing that.

donate