‘Doctor Strange 2’ star speaks out on the responsibility of being a role model at 16

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness thrust America Chavez into the limelight, as the reality-hopping teen found herself at the center of a multiversal witch-hunt by a literal witch, Wanda Maximoff. America’s sudden stepping into the spotlight mirrors actress Xochitl Gomez’s own experience on this movie, although thankfully with less zombie action, as the star found herself launched into international fame at a young age.

The 16-year-old opened up about the responsibility of embodying such an important character to so many people as America while speaking to Inverse. Gomez admitted that she was too naive to know how much it meant that she was playing one of the very first Latina superheroes in the MCU during production, but now she’s proud to be the face of this major move in the right direction from Marvel. As Gomez said:

“It’s a lot of responsibility to originate a superhero from the comics. But also, at the time, when I was doing it, I was only 13. So to me, I was like, ‘This is just a role.’ It didn’t click until trailers started dropping and people’s reactions started coming out. Girls were DM’ing me messages saying, ‘Thank you for being there’ and ‘It means so much that you’re on screen, a Latina who’s a superhero.’ I’ve realized how much it means to not just young girls, but boys too. How much it means to them there’s a Latina superhero. I’m really happy that I get to be that representation.”

America’s backstory in Doctor Strange 2 also gave rise to another bit of extra LGBTQIA+ rep, too, as the teen heroine was depicted as having two mothers, although sadly — but inevitably — this caused some outrage in certain international territories. America herself is bisexual in the comics, which is something that fans are eager to see touched upon in the character’s further appearances.

As for where she will appear next, that’s hard to say right now, although Gomez herself has a few ideas about how America needs to grow as a person. Not to mention that she’s not ruling out the idea of her being outed as a mutant like Kamala Khan, as played by her IRL pal Iman Vellani. Whatever the future holds for America, we can easily see Xochitl Gomez hanging around the MCU for a long time to come yet.