The upcoming Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness — Marvel’s sequel to the hit 2016 superhero film Doctor Strange — has been banned in Saudi Arabia over a key LGBTQ superhero in the movie.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which was due to be released across the Gulf on May 5, the sale of advanced tickets are no longer available on the websites of cinemas in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Qatar, according to a report by the Hollywood Reporter.

This suggests that the film is also banned in Kuwait and Qatar, although it has not yet been confirmed.

The decision to ban the Doctor Strange sequel is said to be due to an LGBTQ-related issue, as the upcoming sequel introduces a character named America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez) who is gay.

MCU newcomer Xochitl Gomez is America Chavez in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. (Marvel Studios)

Homosexuality is illegal in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Kuwait.

The ban of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness in the Persian Gulf comes after The Eternals was banned in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Qatar last year over its inclusion of a same-sex couple.

At the time, actress Angelina Jolie — who starred in Eternals — reacted to the ban, stating she is “proud” that Marvel refused to cut the film’s LGBTQ-related scenes for Middle Eastern countries, and said that anyone who doesn’t “appreciate” gay content in movies is “ignorant.”

“I’m sad for [those audiences]. And I’m proud of Marvel for refusing to cut those scenes out,” Jolie said. “I still don’t understand how we live in a world today where there’s still [people who] would not see the family Phastos has and the beauty of that relationship and that love.”

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In Eternals, Phastos (played by actor Brian Tyree Henry) appears as Marvel’s first gay character with a major role, and is shown in a same-sex marriage with a character played by actor Haaz Sleiman. There is a scene in which the two characters share a kiss, and the couple also has a son together.

“How anybody is angry about it, threatened by it, doesn’t approve or appreciate it is ignorant,” Jolie asserted.

Similarly, the Pixar film Onward was banned in Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia in 2020 — over one line that referenced a lesbian relationship.

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