Bisexual VisionQuest Star Feels ‘Seen,’ Here’s What Got Left Out

Marvel’s latest victory lap involves a bisexual actor, a superhero whose bisexuality was added years after his debut, and an on-screen romance with a woman. Naturally, the talking point is how groundbreaking it all feels. Ruaridh Mollica, the Scottish actor playing Tommy Maximoff in Disney+’s VisionQuest, told Variety that the casting makes him feel “seen.” “I feel like Marvel did a great job by casting a bisexual actor for this and it’s such an honor to be portraying that in the MCU. I feel so seen,” Mollica said. There it is. Marvel gets praised for casting someone whose identity matches a label its writers attached to an existing character. The actor congratulates the company. The company gets another representation story. Everybody collects a gold star. Except Tommy didn’t arrive in comics with that label. Tommy Shepherd, also known as Speed, debuted in Young Avengers #10 in 2006. For roughly seven years, his depicted romantic interests were women. His history included Kate Bishop and a prior relationship with Lisa Molinari, whom he knew from juvenile detention. Then Kieron Gillen changed the picture during his 2013 Young Avengers run. Gillen, who has publicly identified as bis...