The eight characters who went from male to female in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
As all fans of the comic world know, the audiovisual adaptations of characters in cartoons rarely match the ones we use for reading, because for one reason or another, people and situations fit a different approach, at least from the point of view of the creative team of the film or series in question.
The changes we’ll be studying in this particular issue are among the eight male characters that Marvel Studios decided to turn into female characters, which you can see by continuing to read this article.
Cosmo
This friendly space dog first appeared in the adventure Knowhere (Part 1), published in Nova #8 (2007), with scripts by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning and illustrations by Wellington Alves.
However, in this article, Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017), Guardians of the Galaxy: A Special Holiday (2014) leads our list of characters whose sex has changed because they are in the movies. In the year
The old man
This mysterious character first appeared in the adventure Doctor Strange, Master of Black Magic, Strange Tales #110 (1963), by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko.
She is also a member of the list of transgender characters in the MCU, known as The Ancient One, played by Tilda Swinton in Doctor Strange (2016) and Avengers: Endgame (2019). However, Kevin Feige has publicly admitted that he regrets this change, as he himself said, trying to escape the cliché of the wise Asian man.
Spirit
The character, whose civilian identity is William Morris, first appeared in Iron Man #219 (1987) in the Ghost Story comic strip published by David Michelini and Bob Layton.
For the film Ant Man and the Wasp (2018), the main character of this episode joined the list of UCM characters whose gender was changed. So her civilian cinema identity is Ava Starr, played by Hannah John-Kamen. We will see her again in the film Thunderbolts (2025).
Captain Sea-Vell
This character’s first adventure in the comics took place in the Adventure of Captain Marvel, which appeared in Marvel Super-Heroes No. 12 (1967) edition, by Stan Lee and Gene Colan.
If this superhero is included in the list of transgender characters, because, in the movie Captain Marvel (2019), Annette Bening plays a scientist named Wendy Lawson (the main character is used in reference to Walter Lawson’s civilian name), his true identity is that of Mar-Vell.
Task leader
Known in our country as the Controller, this character appears under the civilian name of Anthony Masters in the adventure Assault!, The Avengers #195 (1980), published by David Michelini and George Perez.
However, in the film Black Widow (2021) we see again the change of sex between the characters, because the role falls on Olga Kurylenko, who is called Antonia Drikov in the film, who will return for Thunderbolts.
Ajax
A member of a group of characters known as The Eternals, who first saw the light of day in the comic strip Day of the Gods published by Jack Kirby in Comic Eternals #1 (1976).
However, in the film of the same name (
Sprite
This is a member of the team of characters known as The Eternals, who first saw us on Killing Machine in the comic The Eternals #9 (1976), with scripts and illustrations by Jack Kirby.
However, in the movie Eternals, it is Leah McHugh who is responsible for bringing the character to life.
Silver Surfer
Better known in Spanish as Estela Platada, this superhero, whose real name is Norrin Rad, started his adventure in The Coming of Galactus!
We’ll have to wait until 2025 to see a movie based on Marvel’s most famous four characters, but we already know that it’s planned to be based on the comic mentioned in the previous paragraph, unless it’s a herald of Galactus. Instead of Norrin Rudd, it will be Shala-Ball, played by Julia Garner, as we reported at the time. However, we’ll have to wait until the movie’s release to find out if the original villain from the comic book adventure will make an appearance as well.