Doctor Strange star defends teenage costar from online abuse

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is finally out in theaters, and it’s pretty good! The movie catches up with Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) as he recovers from the events of Avengers: Endgame. It pits him and Wong, the new Sorcerer Supreme (Benedict Wong) up against the Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen), who is after a teenager who can hop dimensions: America Chavez, played by Xochitl Gomez.

With director Sam Raimi at the helm, the movie is a jolt of grimly giddy fun. But Doctor Strange 2 is also trending because it’s been banned in a couple of countries, including Saudi Arabia. The reason, apparently, is because it features a scene where we learn that America was raised by a lesbian couple. She mentions her “moms” a couple of times. The moms don’t have a single line, but they’re gay, which means that the movie won’t fly in a place like Saudi Arabia, where homosexuality is literally outlawed.

That’s unfortunate enough, but people online made it even wilder by attacker Gomez — who I remind you is a teenager playing a character in a movie — for standing too close to gayness, I guess. “We all hate you,” one person wrote on her Instagram. “Ur the reason I can’t watch the movie on cinema,” wrote another. “May God deprive you of happiness in your life and your personality.” And so on.

Trolls should feel “deep shame” for dragging Doctor Strange star

This is all depressingly predictable, but at least her costars have her back. “It’s a big deal that America is in this movie,” Chavez told Asia One. “It’s just huge. And I’m just so happy that Marvel has stuck to it and kept the scene in there. And it’s just pretty crazy that I get to be the one who plays America. Although, yes, my name may be circled within hate and stuff but it’s okay.”

Benedict Wong jumped in at that point. “It’s not okay. It’s not okay,” he said. “We have to all collectively understand that… She auditioned aged 13 and she joined us aged 14, one of the youngest actors to join the MCU of a film of that magnitude. You know, she’s just a young girl playing her role and full praise for that.”

"There’s a real level of shame for all those trolls that are cowards not to actually put their face [out there], and they should feel a deep shame of what they’re doing. Let’s all just play nice. Let’s all just enjoy what we are representing. It’s sad that fans in that country won’t get to see this. But all we are doing is radiating representation, voicing the voiceless. And that’s all that we can do — represent people so that they can be seen."

Of course the homophobic trolls won’t listen to this, but it’s nice to hear.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is out in theaters now.

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h/t Variety