As Pri Month wds down, what better way to start a blog takg a eper dive to geekdom than by lookg at LGBTQ reprentatn ic books? And what better place to start than wh the first out gay superhero? At least, would be, if we uld fively fd him or her... The problem…
Contents:
- LOOKG BACK AT THE MISTREATMENT OF MARVEL’S FIRST GAY COMIC SUPERHERO
- WHO WAS THE FIRST GAY SUPERHERO? — THE ROUGH ROAD TO MARVEL’S NORTHSTAR
- MARVEL’S FIRST GAY SUPERHERO DEFEATS EVIL, MAK HISTORY ETERNALS TRAILER
- DC INTRODUCED ITS FIRST GAY SUPERHERO ON TV EARLIER THAN YOU THK
- WHO WAS THE FIRST OPENLY GAY SUPERHERO? — IN DEFENSE OF DC COMICS’ EXTRAñO
- GAY SUPERHERO IN COMICS & MOVI YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT
LOOKG BACK AT THE MISTREATMENT OF MARVEL’S FIRST GAY COMIC SUPERHERO
Northstar is often lled the first gay superhero, although he wasn’t allowed to e out until 13 years after his but. * who was the first gay superhero *
A gay superhero parody of BYU's Brigham Young statue (2017) (image by Pastelopapa via Wikimedia). Bis men g and out of his home, or lgerg shirtls the background of panels, Northstar was d through the unique perspective of how straight men typilly view gay men.
WHO WAS THE FIRST GAY SUPERHERO? — THE ROUGH ROAD TO MARVEL’S NORTHSTAR
From Wonr Woman to Northstar, here are some of the most groundbreakg LGBTQ characters and gay superhero Marvel and DC Comics non. * who was the first gay superhero *
Northstar’s publitn history shows a cross sectn of 40 years of the Uned Stat’s mastream view of the gay muny.
In the 1980s he was portrayed as dismissive of women to the pot of misogyny, while the ghts, gay men were so often portrayed fictn as the gay bt iend that Northstar was portrayed almost solely the pany of women.
His backstory evolved as homosexuals emerged om enomic dispary: Where once he was an unattend mor, he beme a wealthy, privileged man as the natnal narrative surroundg queer youth gradually expand. Perhaps seemed that to keep the first out gay man was a potls exercise, pecially one so mired outdated stereotyp. We’ve put together this list to troduce some of the most fluential gay superhero, rangg om groundbreakg figur like Marvel’s Northstar to characters like Harley Qun who only me out the past few 12 most inic gay superhero1) Wonr WomanDiana of Themyscira has a long and storied history as a queer in.
MARVEL’S FIRST GAY SUPERHERO DEFEATS EVIL, MAK HISTORY ETERNALS TRAILER
Now that we've vered the LGBTQ ic book basics, and the first mastream, openly gay superhero, Extraño, 's time to take a look at the (sort of) first mastream gay superhero: Northstar. At least, that's what this was gog to be about. Then, over the urse of rearchg how Northstar beme the poster boy for… * who was the first gay superhero *
(CC-BY-SA)2) MidnighterPossibly the bt-known gay superhero ic book circl, Midnighter was created as a parody of Batman, startg off the adult-rated Wildstorm ic Stormwatch.
As one of the origal X-Men, he was portrayed as straight for s beg outed as gay 2015.
DC INTRODUCED ITS FIRST GAY SUPERHERO ON TV EARLIER THAN YOU THK
Unregnized for havg DC's first nfirmed gay superhero on televisn, Static Shock subtly brought LGBTQIA+ reprentatn before the Arrowverse. * who was the first gay superhero *
Thanks to the X-Men ics’ love of time travel hijks, there are actually two versns of this character at the moment: A teenage Iceman who realized he was gay after Jean Grey read his md, and an adult versn who stayed the closet and dated women for years, but me out after beg nonted by his younger self.
The recent Iceman solo seri foced on his life after this revelatn, earng a mixed rponse bee while ’s great to see a gay character gettg their own ic, his emotnal arc is a rather old-fashned g-out story. She first appeared as Batman’s love tert the 1950s, shortly after the publitn of Sctn of the Innocent, a book that acced Batman of homosexual propaganda. In recent years she was rewrten to be gay herself, a ntroversial cisn that led to some problems of s her ic’s creators wanted her to marry her girliend, DC nixed the cisn by sayg hero “shouldn’t have happy personal liv, ” a dub statement that sounds pretty ridiculo the ntext of, say, Superman.
Now that we’ve vered the LGBTQ ic book basics, and the first mastream, openly gay superhero, Extraño, ’s time to take a look at the (sort of) first mastream gay superhero: Northstar.
WHO WAS THE FIRST OPENLY GAY SUPERHERO? — IN DEFENSE OF DC COMICS’ EXTRAñO
* who was the first gay superhero *
Then, over the urse of rearchg how Northstar beme the poster boy for closeted gays, this post took a fun ltle tour. Wrer and artist John Byrne nsirs himself to have created the first gay superhero Northstar, a character who first appeared a uple issu of The Unnny X-Men. But while Byrne may have thought was time for a gay superhero, Marvel edor--chief Jim Shooter had very different ias.
He had, reportedly, stuted a ban on homosexual portrayals throughout his tenure the ’80s. If you haven’t, here’s a quick ndown: Bce is attacked the YMCA showers by two predatory gay men tent on filg him. From makg one of the first forays to homosexualy one of vlence and gay panic, to pictns that lean heavily to stereotyp and borrle ritur, ’s jt a nightmare.
GAY SUPERHERO IN COMICS & MOVI YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT
Stereotypg gay characters as beg straight out of a gay panic fever dream was not his problem, sce he jt wanted to tell a personal story. It left a mark on him, and dig around onle enough and you’ll fd those who suggt that the ban on homosexual portrayals was a direct rponse to the backlash he got om his Hulk story. So how necsary was his extra cree for Marvel’s ic le that was subject to the Co, sce the CCA didn’t drop their own ban on homosexual ntent until 1989?
None of this is to say Jim Shooter is homophobic, pecially as this was, aga, almost 40 years ago. But at the time, he wasn’t exactly creatg a welg environment for the gay muny or his gay rears. We’ll get to the part above that had pissed off that particular gay rear, but why not take a tour first to an earlier part of the TCJ terview?