Spider-Man: Far From Home actor Zach Barack, who is transgender, is taking aim at Disney saying the Hollywood studio is not doing enough to champion LGBTQ roles in the comic book-based films and TV shows.
Barack became the first openly transgender actor to be featured in a Marvel film, portraying “Zach” in the 2019 film starring Tim Holland as Spider-Man.
But even though the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has debuted a growing list of gay characters, Barack says that the studio has not done enough for the gay community.
“It’s not good enough,” Barack said in an interview with Digital Spy. “It’s… I mean, on some fundamental level, even seeing Batgirl shelved, which is not Marvel, it all boils down to what we value – which is not femininity.”
“That’s where hating trans people, in a lot of ways, comes from – that we don’t want people to act less than what we see, which is often masculinity,” Barack exclaimed. “Which is why it’s a lot less dangerous to be a trans guy than it is to be a trans girl or a trans feminine person.”
“So that’s one of the reasons it’s harmful. But then more directly, yeah – just make the character trans, and face the consequences,” Barack said. “Be brave. Do something in the world, so that when you die, you’re like, ‘I’m glad I tried that,’ [laughs] and don’t regret not doing it.”
Barack also insisted that he has had trouble dealing with people who are “more focused on the ticket sales” than on pushing the queer agenda and that those people don’t understand how the agenda could help change American culture. And because of that, Barack insisted that everyone needs to push the LGBTQ agenda.
“I don’t know how to tell someone to care, but they should,” Barack said. “It’s the right thing to do. And it matters. It matters more than anything. Be a human being, and look out for other human beings. It’s all we have. You know, we can’t afford to not be on the same team at this point.”
Marvel and Disney have been shoehorning the LGBTQ agenda into the studio’s presentations more and more.
Victoria Alonso, who was recently promoted as the President of Physical, Post Production, VFX and Animation in May, apologized last year for “not doing right” by transgender actor Rain Valdez.
But in 2019, Alonso also claimed that she intended to help make the MCU “diverse and inclusive.”
“I can tell you we are actively working on making our universe as diverse and inclusive as we can. Be patient with us. We have a lot coming in the future,” she said at the time.
MCU boss Kevin Feige has also been seen pushing the LGBTQ agenda in the superhero films. In 2019, Feige promised to introduce a transgender character to the MCU. That addition turned out to be Barack.
The studio has also included gay characters in a list of projects going back to 2019. Including, The Avengers: End Game, Loki, Eternals, Moon Knight, Thor: Love and Thunder, and even the upcoming Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
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