15 years old Mexican-American actor Xochitl Gomez will be making her MCU debut through Marvel’s upcoming Magnum Opus Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. It is the first time we will see her and her character America Chavez on scream and fans are extremely excited to discover what Marvel has in store for their new character.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness will also star Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch and Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange.
America Chavez is an extremely important character for Marvel’s Phase 4. She has the ability to open star-shaped portals to any Universe or Timeline that she wishes to travel to and her abilities will be thus of utmost importance in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. The movie will see Doctor Strange moving across many universes alongside America Chavez in order to fix the sacred timeline.
Xochitl Gomez discusses Marvel’s strict Audition process for America Chavez
Meanwhile, Xochitl Gomez has revealed that getting this life-changing opportunity was not at all an easy task. In fact, she had to go through Marvel Studios’ strict audition process to get the role.
The process began in March 2022 when Xochitl, alongside many other actors, was asked to send an audition tape for an unknown Marvel project. Almost 5 months later, she heard again from them. This time they asked for another audition tape using a fake character name and a fake script.
After she sent in the second tape, she heard back from them in just 20 days and her agent informed her that they were indeed interested in her.
“A week later, I got a call from my agent who said that I was pinned, which means they’re very serious about you. A few days after that, I got an offer to screen test in London. I had about 10 days to get my passport ready and got on a plane,” Xochitl said.
The screen testing was done at the original set and there she met Benedict Cumberbatch a.k.a Doctor Strange for the first time.
“I looked around and there were four cameras and like 80 crew members. It was a real, working film set. Most screen tests aren’t like that. It was scary because that was the first time I met Benedict [Cumberbatch]. I was so nervous to do a scene with him. But he was super nice, and so were Sam [Raimi] and Richie [Palmer]. As intimidating as it was, everyone made me feel welcome,” she said.
Just two days after returning home, Xochitl received a call from her agent who confirmed that she had got the role. Casting director Sarah Finn herself broke the news to her.
“Two days after returning to the US, Gomez got on a Zoom call from her agent, Stella Alex. The casting director [Sarah Halley Finn] popped in and told me I got it! I was literally shocked. I couldn’t believe it – especially when Sarah said, ‘Xochitl, welcome to the Marvel family! You’re America Chavez.’ I was like, ‘Are you serious?’ My heart stopped. I couldn’t even think because I didn’t want to get my hopes up.”
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness will not be the only project for America Chavez. Marvel has many things planned for the newly introduced character and Xochitl Gomez is highly likely to join the Young Avengers team alongside Hailey Steinfield as Kate Bishop, Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova and many more characters. The Young Avengers will be MCU’s next big-budget collab movie series.