This text incorporates spoilers for “Eyes of Wakanda.”
Everybody is aware of that Achilles is homosexual. It is 2025. I do not care what Brad Pitt informed you again in 2004, however we dwell in a distinct world now — a world the place, whenever you see Achilles in a factor, it is best to know to instantly begin on the lookout for the queer rep. In order that’s precisely what I did once I noticed the well-known Greek hero pop up in episode two of Marvel’s new “Eyes of Wakanda” animated collection.
Now, I do know what you are considering. Achilles and queer storylines go hand in hand. However the MCU? Type of the other. Sure, all of us liked “Agatha All Alongside,” which might be essentially the most specific, canonical, attention-grabbing queer illustration within the franchise to this point. However apart from that, Joe Russo’s cringy cameo in “Avengers: Endgame,” and some satisfaction pins that you must squint to see? It is slim pickings.
At this level, most queer followers like myself know that massive Disney properties are possible by no means going to be the place to search for actual illustration or attention-grabbing queer tales. It takes an actual Dana Terrace to eke homosexual blood from that exact stone. However I am nothing if not a glutton for punishment, which signifies that on this explicit context, I’ll nonetheless make the leap to hook up with dots for a shred of progressive storytelling.
“Eyes of Wakanda” episode provides extra dots to attach than we usually get. The story takes place in the course of the literal Trojan Conflict and stars Achilles (Adam Gold) and his shut buddy Memnon (Larry Herron), often called B’kai in his native Wakanda. Historians will say they have been simply roommates, however we all know higher.
Eyes of Wakanda episode 2 is extraordinarily queer-coded
In most methods, “Eyes of Wakanda” episode 2 recreates the usual beats of the Trojan Conflict fairly precisely. Odysseus schemes, Priam hides, and the Greeks fail many times of their makes an attempt to breach town. Their biggest weapon is an elite squad led by Achilles and Memnon, who’s secretly an agent of Wakanda despatched to recuperate a vibranium artifact held by Helen of Troy. His camaraderie with Achilles, nonetheless, is deeply actual.
There is no such thing as a Patroclus on this story. The writers conveniently cleared the runway of another possible love pursuits. And whereas we do not get a kiss or a declaration of affection between the 2 males, we do get hundreds of figuring out seems to be, charged exchanges, and beautiful photographs. “Thanks for being right here,” Achilles says after a very emotional dialog. Later, he insists Memnon take a pendant he obtained from his mom — a token of his, uh, friendship, certainly. “For all the things you have accomplished,” he says when Memnon says it is an excessive amount of. “For all the things we have been by means of.”
In fact, B’kai’s true mission and loyalty to Wakanda lead him to betray Achilles — or at the very least, that is how the Greek sees it. They combat, and when Achilles refuses handy over the vibranium artifact, Memnon strikes him useless, holding his limp physique tenderly within the aftermath. “Was all the things a lie?” Achilles asks along with his final breath? And we all know what he actually means. “Not all the things,” Memnon replies, tears in his eyes.
Marvel’s wink-and-nod strategy to queerness would not reduce it any extra
tragic story, and naturally, one thing very Greek too. Solely a lover could make you’re feeling so betrayed. It is so apparent, watching the story as a queer fan, what the writers and performers are going for right here. Once more, that is Achilles. He is mainly the patron saint of literary gayness at this level. You do not select that character for this sort of story flippantly. You do it due to what it means.
And what this implies, sadly, continues to be fairly lackluster. To be clear, I do not suppose this explicit story wanted a chaste kiss or specific declarations of affection. The subtlety is good. But it surely’s the information that the creators would have needed to combat tooth and nail for both of these issues that provides me pause. When your franchise hardly options canonical queerness, subtlety solely ever helps that suppression — even when it’d accomplished nicely. At this level, I am bored with filling within the gaps myself, and I feel loads of queer followers really feel the identical. You’ll be able to solely push queer like to the margins a lot earlier than that marginalization turns into the illustration itself. In case you solely ever conceal these relationships, then you definately’re saying implicitly that they’re issues to be hidden.
I do know that Wakanda, as an idea, is an inherently political thought. In these repressive instances, I am not asking Black creators to go to bat for each sort of variety directly. On the identical time, it is unlucky to appreciate that implied queerness often is the solely norm we ever get from the Disney machine. “Agatha All Alongside” would not appear to have been the door-kicker some might have hoped for.
