Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar have banned the release of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness , the new film starring Benedict Cumberbatch that joins the Marvel Cinematic Universe, due to the presence of a homosexual character in the story.
According to the specialized site Indie Wire , the authorities of those Middle Eastern countries, in which this sexual orientation is officially illegal, decided to take the same position they adopted against Eternals (also from Marvel) and the new version of Love without barriers , Directed by Steven Spielberg.
This is a common provision in that region on films that contain roles or themes linked to the LGBTIQ+ community, and in this case the film made by Sam Raimi will not be screened due to the appearance of América Chavez, a lesbian teenager played by Xochitl Gomez.
Doctor Strange in the multiverse of madness has a scheduled release date in the Persian Gulf countries for this May 6, although the only country that keeps advance ticket sales enabled is the United Arab Emirates.
In the case of Eternals , which was directed by the Oscar winner Chloé Zhao, the ban occurred in November 2021, after Disney refused to edit the sequences in which the first gay superhero of the Marvel Universe participated and a same-sex couple that make up the plot.
For its part, Love without barriers , which includes Anybodys (a trans character played by Iris Menas) in its story, was banned last January in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman and Kuwait.
Among other countries that also requested cuts in films for their LGBTIQ+ content is China, which recently asked Warner. Bros to remove from the Fantastic Beasts: Dumbledore’s Secrets footage a dialogue between the title wizard (Jude Law) and the villain, Gellert Grindelwald (Mads Mikkelsen), about the love affair they had shared in their youth.