Is a famous Greek god being turned gay by Marvel Studios?

According to MCU Cosmic, Hercules is the hero that Marvel Studios is looking to cast with an openly gay actor in The Eternals.

Keep in mind, the film is at the start of production, so much of this is Hollywood gossip. As such, you should take all of this with a grain of salt. But if you like the inner workings of Hollywood and moviemaking, you might enjoy this story.

Unfortunately, the film is currently using codenames for its casting calls, so we can’t confirm anything. That said, as CombicBook reports, the rumors started after The Hashtag Show indicated that a Greek god would be a part of The Eternals. Then MCU Cosmic backed up this rumor with a report saying that Hercules is the rumored lead.

Of course, there is plenty to speculate with this story that’s currently buzzing on entertainment and geek spheres.

First off, Hercules isn’t even an Eternal. The Eternals are a whole separate team of space-based gods. Their multiple comic book series and origins have almost nothing to do with Hercules. Though, Hercules is based on Greek Mythology, and so are some of the Eternals like lead hero Ikaris.

Second, it’s important that we keep this rumor from becoming a game of “whisper down the lane.” The initial story was that Marvel, and film director Chloé Zhao, were looking to hire an openly gay actor for the lead role. Now, some news sources are reporting that the role itself will be gay. To clarify, there is currently no official word indicating that this character will be gay.

If the rumor of the character being gay turns out to be true, there is some precedent for it. Assuming that Hercules is going to be in the Eternals and made gay, it would reflect one of his comic book iterations. In Marvel universe Earth-12025, Hercules was in a romantic relationship with Wolverine. Though, that was only one iteration of the character who was primarily straight in all other interpretations.

That said, Hercules, the mythological demigod, was canonically bisexual. The myths of antiquity share that Hercules loved both men and women. As such, going a similar route with this Marvel character wouldn’t be out of the question.

Ultimately, this is all guesswork and rumors until any official word comes out. But, the story is running on many geek-themed news sources, so we thought you Instinct fans would like to know it.

What we do know, for now, is that Angelina Jolie was recently cast in an unspecified role for The Eternals. In addition, the film is currently in the casting process, so we’ll hear announcements about who’s playing whom soon. Then, finally, The Eternals will grace our big screens in 2020.

h/t: MCU Cosmic, ComicBook