Mabel Cadena: "They told me that brown people were never going to be superheroes"

In the 1947 comic, Namora, the daughter of an Atlantean and a human, is a superhero who flies, but can also swim at high speeds, possesses inexhaustible strength, and her skin is bulletproof.

Seventy-five years later, this character retains her bluish marine skin, but unlike the original cartoon, she Namora is not the daughter of a Caucasian woman.

Mabel Cadena (State of Mexico, 1990) is the actress who is in charge of giving life to this deity of the seas, one of the characters in

, the next premiere of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which is coming to theaters on November 10.

Now 32, Cadena vividly remembers being told that superheroes didn't look like her, so it was a pleasant surprise to play Namora.

"For me, it represented confronting me with all the things I heard as a child and that perhaps I did not take seriously, but they remained engraved in my head," says the actress in an interview.

"They told me that brown people don't look good, they don't portray themselves that way, that they would never be superheroes," she says.

For this great Marvel production, Cadena believes that she and Tenoch Huerta, who acts as the sea prince Namor, are finally turning the history of racism in the cinema on its head.

"Sometimes an image on the screen is much stronger than naming certain things."

Although this is her first job in Hollywood, Cadena is far from being a rookie.

She started her career on television in the series

(HBO, 2012), where she played Adela Rosa, a woman who was imprisoned.

"It was the first job I had," she recalls, but before that she spent several years studying acting, psychology, and a few years later, a master's degree in pedagogy.

The sea princess Namora in a promotional poster for 'Black Panther: Wakanda Forever'.Marvel

The dark-eyed superheroine

Perhaps it is that versatility that makes it easier to see her as a superhero with an incredible story to tell.

To become the goddess of the seas, she was first known as Tecuelhuetzin in the television series

(2019), the daughter of an indigenous warrior at the time of the conquest.

She also gave life to the prostitute Ramira in

2020), where a group of women take justice into their hands and murder rapists on the outskirts of Mexico City.

It was after this role that the actress thought that she was only going to be awarded the characters of a hitman, a boxer or an indigenous woman.

“It is not that they are bad roles, far from it, but they did not give me others.

At some point I started to have the opportunity to play these other women with another type of status, ”she refers.

“I have taken very seriously how I want to portray the women in my life.”

It was in

(Netflix, 2020), where Cadena began to reinvent the protagonists of his career.

The role of Amada Díaz, the daughter of dictator Porfirio Díaz, and her fake marriage to a homosexual man.

"There are the realism stories and the fantasy stories that I'm also very excited to explore," she says.

Neither poor brunette, nor dumb white

It is not the first time that Cadena has had to talk about her skin color as if it were a condition of her work, but she has had to face that this is not the trait that makes her a better or worse actress.

“I didn't let comments or stereotypes get in the way of the journey she wanted to take,” she says.

But the comments about his appearance started from the closest people.

Already in adolescence and with full awareness of wanting to be an actress, a relative of hers told her that she would never go beyond giving her the same roles, "of selfless", as if she wanted to soften it.

“At another time someone told me 'why don't you have surgery? Why don't you get more bust?'

And why would I want to do that?” she recalls.

His slim figure is proof that he has never had any surgery to help him get roles in the film industry.

That to be a princess of the seas you don't need to have blonde hair, big hips and eyes, like the Namora portrayed in the Marvel comic.

For Cadena it is not a matter of appearances, but of the story that is sought to be told.

“We are there (her and Tenoch Huerta) and she gives me hope, not only for brown people, but also hope for a diversity of narratives,” says the actress.

But at the same time that she knows that she has been incorrectly labeled for being a brunette, she remembers that her fellow white actresses (such as Ximena Romo, with whom she worked on

) have also not been able to explore their potential on stage or in front of the cameras.

"Beyond the color of the skin, it is to make stories that touch and are deep and that can show a diversity of life."

For this young actress, the world of series and movies is a way of daydreaming, a world where a dark-haired man can be an elf and a white woman can also suffer intensely.

As Salma Hayek said at the time when she saw herself in

those children who watch the movies can feel like heroes no matter where they come from.

"These are very powerful times to embrace the boys we have left behind, the girls we have left behind and give them a chance to believe," she concludes.

Mexican actress Mabel Cadena poses for a photo in Mexico City. Gladys Serrano

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