With the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s 25 movies and 11 TV shows to date, Marvel has set a new benchmark for diversity and representation in Hollywood blockbuster films.

Back in June 2019, Marvel Studios’ Executive Vice President of Film Production Victoria Alonso posted on Reddit, “I can tell you we are actively working on making our universe as diverse and inclusive as we can. Be patient with us. We have a lot coming in the future.”

This was in response to fans who expressed their concerns and even frustration toward Marvel for not showing enough diversity in their movies. Since then, the company has released three movies and four TV series. With these new releases, they delivered on their promise of more variety in race, gender identity, and sexual orientation.

There is growing racial diversity in the MCU, highlighting actors, characters and filmmakers who are Asian, Black and Latinx. While Marvel has previously included a few Latinx characters, unfortunately none of them have been main characters, let alone superheroes.

In 2018, Marvel released “Black Panther,” which featured the MCU’s first Black lead superhero, T’Challa, also known as Black Panther, played by Chadwick Boseman. The film featured a nearly completely Black cast, was directed by a Black filmmaker, and was nominated for seven Academy Awards. The superhero movie highlighted African culture through fantastic costume and set design.

On September 3, “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” was released, paying homage to Chinese culture and legends through an amazing plot and acting from a leading cast of almost all Asians. The film stars Simu Liu as the title character as well as Awkwafina and Chinese acting legends, Michelle Yeoh and Tony Leung, in supporting roles. The movie made over $247.6 million globally just two weeks after its release.

Last July, “Black Widow” was finally released, giving the first female Avenger her own standalone movie. The film stars Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff, also known as Black Widow, and does not feature any of her male co-stars from “The Avengers” franchise. The film goes over Romanoff’s backstory of how she came to be an Avenger and how she gets along with her less than normal family dynamic.

As far as the LGBTQ+ community in the MCU goes, there are many characters rumored to have diverse gender identities and sexual orientations, but not many movies and shows that actually showcase them. Some of these characters include Valkyrie from “Thor: Ragnarok,” Captain Marvel, star of her own film, Loki and Sylvie from the Disney+ series “Loki,” and Phastos from the upcoming MCU film “The Eternals.” Valkyrie, Loki and Sylvie are all bisexual, and Phastos is rumored to be the MCU’s first openly gay superhero. Captain Marvel is a lesbian in the comic books.

Marvel has definitely made progress in the last couple of years in their works, and hopefully fans can expect to see more racial diversity and LGBTQ+ representation as the MCU continues on in phase four.