Marvel director Darren Hopkins recently came under fire. His Marvel movie, “Squirrel Girl and Falcon Save New Jersey,” received criticism due to its lack of disabled representation. However, in a recent interview, Hopkins revealed a shocking Easter egg: An invisible disabled superhero was in the movie the whole time.
“Everybody calm down,” Hopkins said. “I was definitely thinking of disabled representation when making this movie. In fact, it was so on my mind that a disabled superhero is in almost every scene. I can finally reveal that Diabetes Man is in ‘Squirrel Girl and Falcon Save New Jersey.'”
When pressed for details, Hopkins continued. “Yeah, so you don’t see Diabetes Man. That’s because he’s invisible. The higher his average blood sugar level is, the more invisible he is. But he’s still definitely in the movie. And he has a disability. Yeah.”
Marvel has a history of featuring disabled superheroes: Daredevil, Echo and Moon Knight to name a few. Yet Hopkins insisted on creating an original disabled character for his movie. “We wanted to create a character that’s fresh and exciting, and has no lines due to some union rules. And that’s how we came to Diabetes Man. Diabetes Man actually has a close personal connection to me because one time I had low blood sugar. After I ate a banana I was fine, but it made me think: This could be a superhero that kids look up to.”
When asked if a completely invisible disabled hero even counts as representation, Hopkins defended his choice. “But he IS visible, though. In the post-credits scene? When Captain America and Thanos arm wrestle for control of the Collector’s Etherion Armor? There’s a blur in the corner of the screen. Yep, that’s Diabetes Man. Who I can now safely reveal was actually played by diabetes spokesperson and musician Nick Jonas in a motion capture suit.”
Nick Jonas has declined our requests for comment.