Marvel artist, Mike Deodato, is being slammed after he publicly body-shamed Black Panther: Wakanda Forever star, Tenoch Huerta, on Twitter. Huerta is best known for starring in Spectre, The Forever Purge, and Narcos: Mexico. During San Diego Comic-Con 2022, it was revealed that Huerta had joined the cast of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and would be portraying Namor (a.k.a. Sub-Mariner). Often referred to as “Marvel’s First Mutant,” Namor is a prevalent character in numerous Marvel storylines and has worked with the likes of the Avengers, Illuminati, X-Men, and Fantastic Four over the years.
Since a brief teaser in Ms. Marvel is the only indication the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has given us (so far) of introducing mutants, Namor’s live-action debut in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is very significant. Especially since Namor is truly a mutant in the comics, while Kamala Khan is an inhuman. Meanwhile, the brief glimpses we have gotten of Huerta in full costume of Namor have only served to further heighten our excitement for his upcoming introduction.
However, apparently, not everyone is happy about Huerta’s casting as Namor. Marvel artist, Deodato, took to Twitter with some unwanted feedback about Huerta’s role in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Deodato is a comic book artist who has worked for Marvel for several years and who has drawn Namor himself. As an artist, he certainly could have provided valuable feedback on Namor’s design in comparison to his live-action counterpart. Instead, he chose to body shame Huerta by oddly comparing his own physique with Huerta’s.
Deodato body shames Black Panther 2 star
Deodato took to Twitter to share a shot of Huerta in his Namor costume, taken from a teaser of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. The snapshot showed a shirtless Huerta from behind. Next to Huerta’s photo, Deodato shared a picture of himself from behind. He then claimed that he, at 60-years old, is in better shape than Huerta and, thus, it’s wrong for Huerta to be playing Namor. Check out the Tweet below:
Of course, users were quick to call out Deodato for body shaming Huerta, and Deodato subsequently deleted his utterly bizarre Tweet. There is so much wrong with Deodato’s Tweet that it’s hard to know where to begin. Let’s start with the part where he publicly compared his body to someone else’s and claimed to have a better one. Every body is different—he cannot claim that Huerta is in worse shape than him from looking at one single snapshot taken from behind. Given that Huerta was chosen to portray a lead villain in an action-packed MCU film, tells us much more than a single photo does.
Meanwhile, to even hint that Huerta is “out of shape” by appearance is just absurd. First of all, again, you can’t tell how fit someone is by how their back looks. And it’s about time we stop believing that men need unnatural and unrealistic muscles bulging from every inch of their body to be considered “in shape.” Or that anyone needs to have zero percent body fat to be healthy. It’s simply not true.
And on an actor note, if Huerta can fulfill all the physical demands that playing Namor requires, then that means he’s in good enough shape to play the role.
Deodato attempts to “apologize”
After deleting his initial Tweet, Deodato issued a statement that was supposed to be an apology, but that didn’t sound much like one. Deodato claimed that he was mocking the comic book character, not the actor in real-life. He also reiterated that he didn’t know Huerta nor his ethnicity. This was in regards to some users speculating his jab at Huerta, who is Mexican, was racially motivated. Of course, his apology doesn’t make any sense when he explicitly posted Huerta’s photo and compared it to his own. Meanwhile, Huerta is not “a fictional character in a movie”—he is a real person with real feelings and the fact that he’s in costume in a film doesn’t somehow give Deodato the right to comment on his physique.
(featured image: Disney)
