At the premiere of Captain Marvel in Los Angeles, Marvel’s production chief told Variety that it’s time for a gay superhero to appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).

Victoria Alonso said earlier this week that she thinks both Marvel and the world are “ready” for a gay superhero to join the team but stopped short of announcing any particular new casting or character decisions.

Rumors have recently circulated on Twitter that Marvel was considering making the lead in its upcoming The Eternals film gay. Those rumors originated from a report on The Hashtag Show that suggested that a superhero in the upcoming film would be gay.

The studio has already begun casting for The Eternals and is looking for an actor aged 30-49 that “physically looks like a superhero” to play the lead. The Hashtag Show said that while Marvel was looking at actors of all ethnicities to play the role, they hoped to cast an openly gay actor in the role. A few actors have started to throw their hat in the ring via social media:

https://twitter.com/Nick_Ardill/status/1102976820108976129

https://twitter.com/TheEternalsOfc/status/1103556336242049024

Captain Marvel is expected to have a $100 million opening this weekend, which would make it the highest-grossing Marvel movie opening weekend of all-time.