Actress Xochitl Gomez (who plays America Chavez in the MCU) had a very heartwarming reaction to seeing a Marvel action figure of herself for the first time.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness introduces the Marvel Cinematic Universe audience to several new characters and concepts that will be moving the story of the MCU forward, most importantly the multiverse. Another introduction that stood out for fans was that of America Chavez, a young hero who can punch star-shaped holes in the multiverse, portrayed by Xochitl Gomez.
The Mexican actress is relatively new to the world of film as she has only starred in one other major production – Netflix’s The Baby-Sitters Club, and has just joined the star-studded Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) at the tender age of just sixteen.
Many more young faces have recently been added to the MCU to support moving forward to the next phase, such as Hailee Steinfeld’s Kate Bishop from Hawkeye, Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova from Black Widow, and Iman Vellani’s Kamala Khan from Ms. Marvel.
One can only imagine the impact that becoming a part of such a huge franchise at such a young age can have on an actor and their career.
America Chavez Action Figure
One of the biggest landmarks of starring in a Marvel film is seeing your face on merchandise, as their heroes get their faces plastered on everything from water bottles to pillows to children’s toys. One of the most common pieces of merch is always the action figures, tiny versions of our favourite heroes.
There were several action figures created to celebrate the Multiverse of Madness release, including but not limited to Xochitl Gomez’s MCU character America Chavez, even featuring her star-patterned jean jacket.
During an interview with Collider’s Perri Nemiroff, Xochitl Gomez shared just how special having an America Chavez action figure is to her – and that she takes it everywhere with her:
“One other thing that I always carry around with me is my action figure. I take it everywhere I go. It’s like, whenever I do press, whenever I go places…I literally have my little mini-America with me everywhere I go, just because I’m just proud to have it…
I remember when I first – this is actually a kind of funny, but also a sad story – is that when Richie Palmer was opening his computer, it was when we were on the set of Dr Strange reshoots. And Benedict was looking at his approval for his action figure, and I was like, “Oh, my gosh, no way. Is it your action figure?” And he’s like, “Oh, yeah.” I mean, it’s like…he’s had to go through that for years now.
To him, it’s not like, as special, and so he’s kind of like looking at it like, “I don’t know, I think my beard looks funny.” And I was like, “Do I have an action figure?” And Richie was like, “Yeah, let me pull it up.” And he pulls it up. And it’s just like, I see, literally, it’s the action figure. And I literally just cried, I was like, “There’s like an action figure of me!” And Benedict was like, “Are you crying?”… and it was just kind of a surreal moment. Because, you know, he got to see me kind of seeing it for the first time. And I also got to see it for the first time. It was just like, a full circle.”
Hopefully, Xochitl Gomez maintains this sweetness and doesn’t become jaded to the wonders of the production world, especially since she has skyrocketed to the heights of fame afforded by starring in a Marvel film gives an actor.