TEENAGE DREAM

JOE LOCKE HITS THE ROAD RUNNING

- GIZELLE HERNANDEZ

There’s been a lot of speculation about who Teen is…

One of the great things about Marvel and its inherent secrecy is that fan speculation is always great for the show, because it means people are talking about it. It’s always interesting to look at what people are saying and guessing who [they] think people might be or what might happen.

Some people are very on and most people are very not on it. It’s quite nice to be like, “Hi, you’re so wrong, and you don’t even know how wrong you are.” Me and Kathryn have talked about how it’s really nice to have a secret to keep and know all the secrets in the show. But also, now it’s time to send our child off to school. It’s like, “Okay, you go out in the world now.”

Teen is another step for representation in the MCU. How important was it for you that he lives life as his authentic self?

Really important. The MCU – and any Marvel project – has this weird ability to unite the whole world. No matter where you’re from, who you are, everyone knows about the new Marvel series, the new Marvel film, which is a really great way to progress social issues in the world. To have a real authentic portrayal of a queer character in that sphere where, no matter your background, everyone’s on equal footing.