Joe Locke is clarifying what he meant in recent interview quotes.
The 20-year-old Heartstopper star spoke out about his upcoming new Marvel series Agatha All Along, his character “Teen,” and the Marvel fandom in a new feature with Variety.
“The show never shies away from his queerness, but it’s not a defining feature of his character,” he shared of his character, who is simply only known as Teen at this time. “It’s just one layer of him as a person.”
He also thought that he would be gaining muscle for the role, but learned they actually wanted him stay as he is.
“I thought you get cast in a Marvel show, you get paid to get really muscly and hench,” Joe said. “‘We want you to stay small and twink-y’ is basically what they said, in a very corporate way.”
He also added some comments about criticism and backlash from the Marvel fandom in the interview, to which he later took to social media to clarify.
Keep reading to find out more…
“It was like, ‘Oh, why has Marvel done this campy gay stereotype?’” Joe tells Variety of the backlash regarding his character after the trailers were released. “It really annoyed me because I was like, ‘You can’t ask for authentic casting and then be upset if you have a camp character.’”
“I’m fully aware that the Marvel fandom is far less nice than the Heartstopper fandom. There’s going to be a lot of people that just hate everything about the character and everything about what I’ve done with it, and I just have to be OK with that,” he added.
“Marvel fans are very open with their opinions. But they’re not in a Marvel show, so—” he says. “I’m doing the one thing that they really wish they could be doing. Sorry!”
After the interview came out, Joe shared a part of the interview featuring the quotes about fans above and added clarity to what he meant.
“Also just wanted to clarify that this was more about the scale of the marvel fandom than marvel fans not being nice!” he wrote on Instagram story. “More poeple, means more more room from negative opinions! Obvs I hope everyone likes teen and the character I created! Just getting myself ready for those who don’t ????❤️”
In case you missed it, watch the latest trailer for Agatha All Along and get the latest scoop on Heartstopper season three, both of which are premiering this fall!
