Disney+ is celebrating Pride Month 2026 by highlighting the Marvel films and series that helped LGBTQIA+ characters find their place in the superhero world. In its early days, Marvel was slow to introduce openly LGBTQIA+ characters to the screen, often limited to fleeting mentions or easily overlooked moments. Today, the studio's films and series have a different look, and the streaming service is using June to remind fans of the projects that contributed to this change.
In celebration of Pride Month 2026, the Disney+ Pride collection highlights four Marvel properties featuring significant LGBTQIA+ stories. Each has, in its own way, advanced LGBTQIA+ representation, and this collection gives fans a clear picture of how Marvel has become more inclusive of such stories over the past decade. It is their influence that earned these four properties a place in this year's celebration.
The Pride Collection returns to Disney+ every June with a carefully curated selection of films and series centered around LGBTQIA+ characters and themes. Previous releases, such as those in 2022, were dominated by family films and musicals, such as West Side Story, The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder, and several Marvel projects. The 2026 lineup has seen a significant increase in MCU projects, making the collection more appealing to a wider audience of superhero fans.
In honor of Pride Month, Disney+ is highlighting Marvel films and series.
Eternal
The film "Eternals" marked the first openly gay superhero in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Brian Tyree Henry played Phastos, a brilliant Eternal and inventor who leads a quiet family life with his husband, Ben, played by Haaz Sleiman, and their young son. Director Chloé Zhao portrayed their family as warm and ordinary, never treating Phastos's identity as something unexpected or secondary.
The film also featured the first same-sex kiss on the big screen in the Marvel Cinematic Universe—a tender moment between Phastos and Ben before Phastos sets off to save the planet. Sleiman, who is openly gay, called the scene a lifesaver in an interview with Variety. He spoke about how rare it is to see a loving queer family on such a grand scale.
However, this promise came at a price abroad. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Qatar blocked theatrical releases of "The Eternals" after Disney refused to cut scenes featuring same-sex couples, thereby pulling the film from theaters in the Gulf. Angelina Jolie, who played the warrior Thena, praised the studio for retaining the scenes and expressed her sympathy for fans who would miss them.
New mutants
The New Mutants centers on a same-sex romance. This X-Men horror film follows five young mutants held in a secret hospital and how two of them, Danielle Moonstar and Rahne Sinclair, gradually fall in love. Blue Hunt plays Dani, also known as Mirage, and Maisie Williams plays Rahne, a mutant shapeshifter nicknamed Wolfsbane.
Director Josh Boone drew on the characters' long history in Marvel comics, with Dani and Rahne sharing a deep psychic bond. In the asylum, they bond, kiss, and hold hands in the film's final scene, hinting at their future as a couple.
Released in 2020 as the final X-Men film of the Fox era before Disney acquired the franchise, The New Mutants introduced one of the few openly gay protagonists in the series.
Agatha always
Agatha Always There has earned a reputation as the most "gay" project in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to date, and the cast happily embraced the label. In the sequel to WandaVision, Agatha Harkness, played by Kathryn Hahn, assembles a coven of witches to embark on a perilous journey along the Witch Road. The theme of queer identity runs throughout the series, rather than appearing in a single scene.
The series finally introduced Billy Maximoff, also known as Wiccan, one of the most anticipated gay characters in Marvel Comics. Joe Locke plays Billy, Wanda Maximoff's son, and the series confirmed his homosexuality early on, during a phone conversation with his boyfriend. A subsequent episode explored Billy's past, specifically showing him kissing his boyfriend, Eddie, played by Miles Gutierrez-Riley.
Agatha and Rio Vidal, played by Aubrey Plaza, form another important LGBTQ storyline, with flashbacks to their long and complex romance dating back to the Salem witch trials. Between Billy's story and Agatha and Rio's relationship, the series places its LGBTQ characters at the center of its appeal. It's no wonder Disney+ highlighted it in honor of Pride Month.
Jessica Jones
In 2015, the series Jessica Jones introduced Marvel Television's first openly lesbian character. Carrie-Anne Moss plays Jeri Hogarth, a shrewd and ruthless lawyer who frequently works with hard-drinking private investigator Jessica Jones, played by Krysten Ritter. The writers changed the character from the comics, where Jeri Hogarth was originally a man.
The series depicts Jeri's personal life in all its glory. She begins an affair with her secretary, Pam, played by Susie Abromeit, while simultaneously going through a difficult divorce from her wife, Wendy, played by Robin Weigert. Her relationships were treated with the same seriousness as those of heterosexual couples.
Jessica Jones steadily expanded its queer cast as the series progressed. By the third and final season, the series added Gillian, played by Aneesh Sheth, the first transgender character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The series aired on Netflix and then moved to Disney+, where new audiences can experience one of Marvel's first steps toward queer representation.
Why These Marvel Stories Are Important to Pride
Bringing these four projects together in one collection tells a small story about Marvel's journey in LGBTQIA+ representation. Jessica Jones premiered in 2015 and kept its LGBTQIA+ characters on television, where the audience was smaller and the risk felt less risky. Then The New Mutants brought this idea to the big screen, and The Eternals took a bolder step by giving its lead character a husband and a young family.
The "Agatha All Along" series feels like the culmination of this slow ascent. Wiccan is a named character with a boyfriend and a full backstory, and the franchise seems determined to keep him on the show, placing him in rare company among Marvel's queer characters. The cast's open pride in the series, rather than nervous defensiveness, shows that Marvel is more comfortable with this material than it was 10 years ago.
The Pride collection, which includes so many Marvel comics, is a breath of fresh air and a great way to support the LGBTQIA+ community.