Filipina actress Kate Valdez is being carried on a Wave of social-media trending due to a new superhero published by Marvel Comics.
In War of the Realms: New Agents of Atlas # 1, writer Greg Pak and artist Gang-Hyuk Lim introduced the Cebu, Philippines-based heroine and buzzed with her eventual live-action appearance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The day before Wave's first appearance hit comic-book stores in America, fans of Valdez stormed Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter with a #KateForWave campaign. Their mission is to create enough stateside awareness of the actress to be considered for Wave. In a few hours, the #KateForWave posts were liked and shared thousands of times on Facebook, even inspiring a YouTube fan-made trailer with Valdez meeting Thanos and Nick Fury.
Valdez is an 18-year-old actress and model signed to the GMA Network in the Philippines, one of the country's largest TV companies with millions of viewers globally. Valdez' most recent series, the soap opera Onanay, hit No. 1 in the ratings in the Philippines and her acting was critically acclaimed. A statuesque beauty, Valdez has played a fantasy character before in 2016's Encantadia as Mira.
Developed by Pak and artist Leinil Francis Yu, Wave was announced to tremendous excitement in the Philippines but retailers in the U.S. under-ordered copies. When the comic was released a day after the #KateForWave campaign, artist Mico Suayan's variant cover with Wave vanished quickly from stores and began selling on Ebay for $250. The regular edition is now sold out on distributor Diamond with a second printing coming soon.
For Valdez, Wave opens the door for the possibility of a Filipina TV hero becoming one for an entire and Marvelous universe.