Filipinos Continue to Excel in the Marvel Franchise
WRITTEN BY: FRANCESA JANA SANTIAGO
Did you know that Marvel has an ALL-FILIPINO Avengers type team? The Triumph Division was created by Matt Fraction and Salvador Larroca in 2008 and they first appeared in the 2nd issue of Invincible Iron Man! They are made up of the Philippines’ finest heroes who operate in Manila and protect the rest of Southeast Asia.
The multi-million dollar franchise that is Marvel is beloved all over the world and the Philippines is one of its passionate consumers! In fact, Avengers: Infinity War was the largest grossing film in the country during its release, until the next installment Avengers: Endgame shattered the Philippine box office with a PHP 205M opening day! Even the vice president for the country’s Walt Disney company Veronica Cabalinan confirmed that “Marvel has the highest fanbase per capita here in the Philippines, in comparison with Southeast Asia and India”. And it seems the love is reciprocated by the superhero brand itself as we continuously see crumbs of Filipino culture and a lineup of Filipino people take part in its cinematic universe!
Through the Spider-Man movies, we got to see a kababayan shine in the forefront of it all: Jacob Batalon who plays Ned Leeds, the hero’s best friend! The actor even got to show off his Pinoy heritage in Spider-Man: No Way Home where in one scene his Lola, played by Mary Rivera, scolded the other Peter Parkers in pure Tagalog— t’was definitely a surprise for the Filipino audience! Representation for the community continued on through Marvel’s Disney+ shows like The Falcon and The Winter Soldier where fans got to see Filipino diplomat Ayla Perez work together with Captain America in the season finale. Actress Yssa Mei Panganiban appeared in Hawkeye as Sonya, a Black Widow assassin and She-Hulk makes history with having TWO Filipinos play main roles: Ginger Gonzaga as the paralegal bestfriend and Trevor Salter as the love interest to the heroine! But of course, who could forget Drax, the popularly loved member of the Guardians of the Galaxy played by wrestler-turned-actor Dave Bautista!
There are a number of Filipinos behind the scenes as well, doing equally excellent work in bringing the best out of the franchise. Anthony Francisco rose to fame for his visual design work on the titular Groot, who he confirms was partly inspired by the Balete tree as well as his own son! Anthony also helped design the uniforms for the Dora Milaje, the women warriors from the oscar-winning Black Panther and Loki in Thor: Ragnarok. But maybe the first Filipino to ever be recognized for his contributions in Marvel is no other than Matthew Libatique, who among many other great projects (All Too Well Short Film by Taylor Swift and A Star is Born starring Lady Gaga) was the cinematographer behind Iron Man and Iron Man 2. Other prominent pinoys include the late and great Gerry Alanguilan a.k.a. “Komikero”. Gerry inked many popular komiks in the Philippines during the 90’s to the 2000’s until eventually working on a number of Marvel issues involving the X-Men, Fantastic Four and the Avengers.
As time goes by, we collectively see how Marvel’s cinematic universe and business ventures expand rapidly and grow more inclusive to minorities like Filipinos. In the past years, Marvel debuted a new pair of heroes that were of Filipino descent: Wave from The New Agents of Atlas and Ari Agbayani from The United States of Captain America series! In addition to these characters are Sea Hunter and the queer mutant Gabrielle Diwa. Just recently too, Fil-Am actor Nico Santos was confirmed to star in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and Walt Disney Philippines unveiled a giant Thor: Love and Thunder mural in Bonifacio Global City, created by local talent Jappy Agoncillo. From the Banaue Rice Terraces getting featured in Avengers: Endgame to the use of a Filipino rap song in The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, the presence of Filipinos in such a massive enterprise like Marvel is the long-awaited media visibility the community deserves. And all these are merely the beginning.