Tenoch Huerta stands before a crowd full of eager onlookers. He wears a lavender undershirt with a navy suit and a headpiece made with duck and peacock feathers tucked behind his ear. A connector allows a singular black plume to dangle off his earlobe. Its the first time anyone has seen such an open embrace of pre-Hispanic Latin culture on a stage as big as Comic-Con and the actor hopes it wont be the last.

I want to say something really fast about inclusion, Huerta said to the group of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever fans who just watched the movies exclusive first look in July.

I come from the hood, and thanks to inclusion, Im here, he noted. I wouldnt be here without inclusion, and a lot of kids out there in their hood [are] looking at us, dreaming to be here, and theyre going to make it.

In the Black Panther comics, Huertas much-anticipated character, Namor, is a mutant Atlantian with no relation to Latin culture. In the upcoming film, however, Namor has been rewritten to have significant Mayan influence as the ruler of the underwater civilization Talocan. Namor is technically a supervillain in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, although, in the comics, he is sometimes written as both a hero and anti-hero.