The MCU version of the X-Men has found its leader, with Heartstopper star Kit Connor being cast as Scott Summers a.k.a. the mutant hero Cyclops. Connor is the third actor to portray the character, following James Marsden in four movies (and soon in Avengers: Doomsday) and Tye Sheridan in two later X-Men films. But Connor’s casting is important for reasons outside the movie itself. He is perhaps the only openly LGBTQ+ actor in a leadership/heterosexual romantic lead role in a big-budget superhero movie. This is simply something that wouldn’t have happened a decade or so ago, for fear of intense backlash.
Now, we should note that Kit Connor, who is openly bisexual, is hardly the first LGBTQ+ actor cast in a superhero project. Far from it. The original X-Men films had Alan Cumming as Nightcrawler over twenty years ago, not to mention Sir Ian McKellen as Magneto. And in the MCU, Tessa Thompson, who portrays Valkyrie, is openly bisexual. (Although the bias against “sexy” bi women from straight males has never been quite the same as toward queer men.) On TV, we’ve had Ruby Rose as Batwoman, and supporting heroic roles by LGBTQ actors on many CW shows. But those shows are not under the cultural microscope that big-budget tentpole movies are.
So why is Kit Connor’s casting a big deal? Unlike those other superhero roles, especially the TV ones, Cyclops is the actual leader of the team. He’s got the “manly” field commander role. He’s got to give orders, and be an almost military general for the X-Men. And more importantly, he’s the center of a love triangle between two female characters, Jean Grey and Emma Frost. Unlike previous roles queer male actors played in superhero films, he’s got to tick all the traditionally heterosexual “alpha” boxes, and do so under the scrutiny of being an out bisexual actor. Kit Connor is about to enter a cultural minefield for the next several years. Godspeed, young man.
In the past, if they cast queer actors in roles for films like this, they were almost sexually neutered parts. McKellan’s Magneto was already an old man, with no discernible sexuality at all. Cumming’s Nightcrawler, covered in makeup, showed no obvious sexual preference either. Those were “safe” roles to cast queer men in. They didn’t have to kiss any women, so the studios felt safe casting them for those roles. But Connor will have to have romantic chemistry with at least one lady in the X-Men series, if not two. When that happens, the internal conversations at the studios are very different.
In the not-too-distant past, the Hollywood studios would have been too scared to cast a non completely straight-presenting actor in such a role. Just ask Doom Patrol star Matt Bomer. Back in 2004, he signed a 3-picture deal to play Superman, with the director’s full support. When that project morphed into Superman Returns, Bomer lost the gig, as the studio allegedly feared signing a gay man as Superman. It’s one thing to be Magneto. It’s another to be the lead, a symbol of muscled manliness, and romance Lois Lane. So signing Connor to play Cyclops signals a sea change.
So what signaled this change? It’s not as if the bigoted voices have gone quiet. In fact, they are louder than ever. With Kit Connor’s casting, we expect dozens of middle-aged men tearing their hair out on social media over “believability” of Connor in the role. And sadly, plenty of younger men may have this sentiment too. This is despite the actor fitting the role aesthetically with a height of 6’4 and a ripped body. Never mind that Connor isn’t really a mutant, or has a significant visual impairment that we know of in any way. But just look at the hate campaign Milly Alcock received for even suggesting that her Supergirl might, just might, be bisexual. We think everyone has just become tired of giving in to the loudest, worst voices.
Maybe what signaled the change is that the angry online bigots find themselves upset over literally anything now. So why bother to cave to their demands at all then? They lost their minds over Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, and it’s about to break a billion dollars. The worst people will scream about anything that isn’t 100% “straight white alpha male” in every way. And then the project will succeed or fail on its own merits regardless.
If the bigots find something to complain about with almost everything, then catering to their demands makes no sense anymore. Maybe they’ve finally whined themselves into irrelevancy. In the meantime, out LGBTQ actors like Kit Connor can play any role they want, and culturally, we’re just better for it.
The post Why Kit Connor Landing a Lead MCU Superhero Role Matters appeared first on Nerdist.
This articles is written by : Nermeen Nabil Khear Abdelmalak
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