VisionQuest's Ruaridh Mollica celebrates 'queer twin brothers in the MCU'

This story originally appeared on Out.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe just got a little queerer.

Ruaridh Mollica, who portrays Tommy Shepherd/Tommy Maximoff in Disney+'s VisionQuest, spoke with Variety about the "honor" of playing a bisexual character as a bi actor.

“I feel like Marvel did a great job by casting a bisexual actor for this and it’s such an honor to be portraying that in the MCU,” he told the entertainment outlet in an interview posted Friday. “I feel so seen.”

Paul Bettany and Ruaridh Mollica in 'VisionQuest'Disney+

The representation is doubly significant, since Tommy's brother, Billy, is a gay character portrayed by a gay actor, Joe Locke. The characters first appeared as kids in 2021's WandaVision. Locke played Billy Kaplan/Billy Maximoff in the 2024 spinoff Agatha All Along, with adult Tommy being introduced in the latest installment of the TV trilogy, VisionQuest. (For the uninitiated, Mollica and Locke portray older, reincarnated versions of the twins, who were created by a spell cast by their mother, Wanda, played by Elizabeth Olsen.)

Variety notes that, last year, Mollica and Locke appeared in VisionQuest and Agatha All Along hats, respectively, outside of the stage door of Clarkston, where Mollica was making his West End debut. Previously, Mollica received acclaim for his 2024 film Sebastian, in which he played a sex worker.

The first two episodes of VisionQuest debuted Tuesday. In them, there's sparks between Tommy, an orphaned "grifter," and another outcast on the run from authorities, Lisa Molinari (Lauren Morais).

“He’s flirting with Lisa Molinari, but I think that’s makes me feel more seen as bisexual,” he says. “Because that’s the whole point. It’s not necessarily about who you’re dating, it’s about who you are inside, and who you want to flirt with. So I hope that me being bisexual and playing this part is good for people to feel seen and represented.”

With its witchcraft, gay-icon casting, and themes of both real and found family, WandaVision and its spinoffs have been a hit with many LGBTQ+ viewers. VisionQuest picks up the story with a rebooted version of Tommy and Billy's robot father, Vision (Paul Bettany), as he seeks the truth about his own identity and that of his children.

Mollica also discussed the nontraditional family with Variety, detailing "a father who’s a robot and a mother who’s a witch… and they’re the Avengers…and there’s fucking lasers and guns and explosions!”

Catch new VisionQuest episodes Tuesdays on Disney+.