As much as Hollywood seeks to achieve more diversity and inclusivity within the community, their attempts thus far have only been rendered limiting on the minority they meant to include in the first place. In an attempt of Marvel trying to be “diverse”, Eternals star Kumail Nanjiani, who plays Kingo in the film, sheds light as to why the studio — or Hollywood, in general — is interested in only casting “white” actors as film villains. Recently speaking with Esquire, Nanjiani details his sentiment on Marvel Studios and Hollywood steering clear of putting people of color in antagonistic roles. Check out his full quote below:
“I think that Hollywood now — even though they’re trying to be more diverse — is still weird.” Nanjiani said, “And that’s just as limiting as anything else. I want to play more bad guys.”
The Pakistani-American actor continued on to say how varied Marvel co-star Sebastian Stan’s is in terms of his career, as compared to the Eternals star’s. “[Stan] does these big Marvel movies, and then he’ll play a psychopath. I was told that’s going to be hard because people don’t want to cast non-white people as bad guys.”
Nanjiani has yet to receive any news as to whether or not he will be returning in Eternals 2, or if Marvel will hand him a more villainous role. But seeing as Nanjiani is a part of the main leads, his reprising of his role is likely.
Marvel still has a lot to learn when it comes to more diversity, but for now, all we can do is wait for further announcements from their end on this issue. For now, Jonathan Majors, who will be returning as Kang the Conqueror in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and reportedly in Loki Season 2, is set to be the next Thanos dominating the MCU.
Eternals 2 is reportedly in development and according to several insiders, it won’t be helmed by first Eternals director Chloé Zhao.
ALSO READ: Eternals Star Shockingly Sides with Martin Scorsese Over Superhero Genre Criticism
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