Eternals features an exciting, diverse cast, and the movie will also include the Marvel Cinematic Universe's first openly gay couple. It's long overdue, and while we've known for a while that Brian Tyree Henry's Phastos will be married, we don't know much about his unnamed husband.
During a recent interview with NewNowNext, the actor who plays him, Haaz Sleiman, shed some light on bringing some diversity to the MCU. He also revealed more about this supporting character.
"I have not," the actor replied when asked if he's watched the movie. "If I’m not Angelina Jolie or Salma Hayek, you know I haven’t seen it. It’s my first Marvel film, so of course I’m excited.
"My gut feeling is you’ll be so proud. What Marvel has been able to accomplish, I’m so proud of them because they approached it in a very thoughtful way, and Phastos is one of the biggest superheroes in the film," he continued. "I’m his husband, an architect; we have a child. Even though I wished I was the superhero, because when will we see an Arab Muslim openly gay actor playing a superhero? I can’t wait to see it."
It's definitely going to be interesting seeing how the relationship is handled in Eternals, especially as Phastos is thousands of years old (meaning he may have already had children and watched them grow old in front of him, something we know can't have been easy for him).
Regardless, it's great to see the MCU embracing diversity, so this will be one to keep an eye on.