I didn’t think I would ever see the day, but here we are, a RuPaul’s Drag Race girl is entering the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). To make things better, it’s none other than the cosmic beauty and RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars season 5 winner, Shea Couleé.
News broke on August 4 that Marvel has cast Couleé in a currently undisclosed role in its upcoming Disney+ series, Ironheart, which is expected to come out sometime in spring next year.
BEYOND excited to be strutting out of the Werkroom right into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Words cannot express how excited I am to be a part of this amazing project! Acting was my first love, and I’m thrilled to be doing it again in such a big way! 💖https://t.co/QXGFfRrTqs
— Shea Couleé (@SheaCoulee) August 3, 2022
While we don’t know exactly who Couleé will be playing, we do know some of the cast already. Dominique Thorne will star as Riri Williams, Ironheart herself, who is a genius inventor and creator of the most advanced suit of armour since Iron Man’s.
The Hollywood Reporter revealed that Lyric Ross would play Williams’ best friend in the show. It’s also reported that Anthony Ramos and Alden Ehrenreich are on board for the show, but in unknown roles. Chinaka Hodge is also believed to act as the head writer for the series.
There were rumours earlier this year that Marvel was potentially casting its first non-binary character who would play a major role in Ironheart. Could this be the role that Shea Couleé plays?
If so, it would be one of the coolest things that I’ve seen Marvel do. It’s about time they actually tried to include proper representation of queer identities and the power that the LGBTQIA+ community holds.
This is especially powerful considering how much the MCU means to so many queer people across the globe.
Shea Couleé is definitely one incredible queen, having placed as a 3rd/4th runner-up on RuPaul’s Drag Race season 9, then taking out the crown on All Stars Season 5 and finishing as 3rd/4th runner-up on the special all-winners edition of All Stars 7.
To me, there is no other queen that is more suited to enter the MCU than Couleé, especially in a series centred on strong Black representation. Almost all of her runways on All Stars 7 had a strong reference to her African heritage, which she presents with great pride.
As someone who has a very love-hate relationship with Marvel and is a massive Drag Race fan, Shea Couleé’s entrance to the MCU is a massive step forward towards proper, authentic queer representation in the biggest film franchises in the world.
I try my best to love Marvel content, but I’m always let down by the lack of representation of people who aren’t straight, white people. Black Panther was the first Marvel movie that made me genuinely excited, now Couleé’s casting has me unbelievably giddy for Ironheart.
Drag Race queens have immeasurable talent, and it’s great to see the film industry finally paying attention to that.
Now I’m just waiting for Marvel to create a drag queen universe.