Homosexuality & Marvel Superheroes
Jun. 14th, 2008 11:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eliyesOver at In One Ear... there are a few (very bitter) parodies of giving advice for writing minorities in comics. Here's a link to the one about writing gays. Needless to say, the advice lampoons the actual practices. The Marvel ones had me nodding and naming names at every point. I'm not as strong on the DC tropes, really, because Marvel was what I was reading a lot more of when I was young and optimistically looking for queer role models in my favourite forms of media. eta: Just to make this a little clearer: I'm only addressing the Marvel ones in the rest of this post. (Even though I actually have more variety of DC characters who are gay or bi represented in my icons! X3)
The interesting thing is that, while the handling of Northstar is the main target of these "suggestion"/criticisms on nearly every point, the first one applies not to him, but to Iceman. (I'm pretty sure it's never happened to Northstar, because what would mean admitting he'd gotten laid at some point in his life. *headwall*)
The poster boy for #4 is arguably Arnold Roth, boyhood-and-beyond friend of Steve Rogers. Yes, that's right, folks: Captain America went to art college and roomed with a gay man. The best part for me is that Cap is totally okay with this when he finds out. I'm also impressed that neither Arnie nor his long-time lover Michael die of AIDS. Instead, they suffer the type of traumas supporting characters in a superhero book often find themselves in, getting kidnapped a lot. Baron Zemo kills Michael, but Arnie dies of bone cancer -- and with him, Cap's last living tie to his past, alas. They aren't the only gay characters to show up in Captain America, either. For example, the WWII heroes Destroyer and Union Jack II were a couple (unfortunately, Union Jack was killed by a car accident in 1953 -- dying in Destroyers arms ;_;). Two long-term loving gay couples.
Right now, Marvel has some very visible homosexual heroes around: Wiccan and Hulkling over in Young Avengers, Karolina Dean in Runaways (she turns point #1 on it's head: her spouse is an alien shape-shifter who is naturally male but usually appears female to please Karolina, who is only attracted to women), and in the X-books there is (or was, depending on current state of alive-ness) Sunfire II, Northstar, Karma, and Anole. Moondragon and Captain Marvel IV are a f/f couple, although Moondragon is currently physically an actual dragon (but they're both telepaths, so They Have Their Ways). Also, Electro (the Spiderman villain) is now canonically bisexual, as is Marlo (Rick Jones's wife). That's all in the main continuity: in the 1602-verse, Angel falls in love with "John Grey", whom he believes to be male, and in the Ultimates! universe, Northstar and Colossus are a couple.
Only tangentially related: this is an awesome post discussing how being a queer fan and being a fan of slash are not the same thing. I'm often frustrated with how a lot of slash fans use the "gay" label, and how many slash writers depict exaggerated stereotypes of what they think being gay is like, and this post touched on some of the roots of the problem.
The interesting thing is that, while the handling of Northstar is the main target of these "suggestion"/criticisms on nearly every point, the first one applies not to him, but to Iceman. (I'm pretty sure it's never happened to Northstar, because what would mean admitting he'd gotten laid at some point in his life. *headwall*)
The poster boy for #4 is arguably Arnold Roth, boyhood-and-beyond friend of Steve Rogers. Yes, that's right, folks: Captain America went to art college and roomed with a gay man. The best part for me is that Cap is totally okay with this when he finds out. I'm also impressed that neither Arnie nor his long-time lover Michael die of AIDS. Instead, they suffer the type of traumas supporting characters in a superhero book often find themselves in, getting kidnapped a lot. Baron Zemo kills Michael, but Arnie dies of bone cancer -- and with him, Cap's last living tie to his past, alas. They aren't the only gay characters to show up in Captain America, either. For example, the WWII heroes Destroyer and Union Jack II were a couple (unfortunately, Union Jack was killed by a car accident in 1953 -- dying in Destroyers arms ;_;). Two long-term loving gay couples.
Right now, Marvel has some very visible homosexual heroes around: Wiccan and Hulkling over in Young Avengers, Karolina Dean in Runaways (she turns point #1 on it's head: her spouse is an alien shape-shifter who is naturally male but usually appears female to please Karolina, who is only attracted to women), and in the X-books there is (or was, depending on current state of alive-ness) Sunfire II, Northstar, Karma, and Anole. Moondragon and Captain Marvel IV are a f/f couple, although Moondragon is currently physically an actual dragon (but they're both telepaths, so They Have Their Ways). Also, Electro (the Spiderman villain) is now canonically bisexual, as is Marlo (Rick Jones's wife). That's all in the main continuity: in the 1602-verse, Angel falls in love with "John Grey", whom he believes to be male, and in the Ultimates! universe, Northstar and Colossus are a couple.
Only tangentially related: this is an awesome post discussing how being a queer fan and being a fan of slash are not the same thing. I'm often frustrated with how a lot of slash fans use the "gay" label, and how many slash writers depict exaggerated stereotypes of what they think being gay is like, and this post touched on some of the roots of the problem.
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teal moose are eating your houseplants
Date: 2008-06-16 12:45 am (UTC)I was thinking specifically of Joey when I said "however temporary". Shvaughn certainly wasn't a short-term relationship. She had real staying power. :3
The pink and white uniform surely didn't help. Or the black and green. :D
I honestly can't decide which was worse. The pink and white is probably Disney-safe, but.. pink and white. And the black and green had the giant arrow coming up from his crotch. And the studs on the legs in some versions.
I frickin' love that costume. XD
Damned randy, those Azarathians. Probably from being repressed all their lives *sage nod*
This is what I'm figuring! And the Trigon influence surely can't have helped. I mean, come on. Look at the
mangiant loin-cloth/skirt-wearing demon. The first step in his plans to take over Earth involved sex. The Azarathians didn't stand a chance.the personality I knew never really came back. Sean didn't have the spine Shvaughn did.
This is true. I think he felt more confident as a woman. Then again, if my boyfriend left for 5 years to commune with the dead of his species, my planet was taken over by evil aliens with way too many teeth, and I was forced to reverse my sex change just prior to the planet exploding, I think I'd be less than peppy. It's possible that, if v4 had continued, Sean would have acclimatized to all these changes.
Period?
Even the reboot version? ;D
XD No. I thought of that after I posted it, but by that point I was on my way to work.
I keep thinking there are others that were at least hinted at, too, but that might just be old speculation and the fact that yes, the Legion is pretty much the go-to team for the subject ~
I have actually seen people say that Kono seemed to be more interested in women than men. I don't think she'd be snapping so many pictures of guys in the shower if that were the case. (She seemed specifically interested in Cam, and you know, I can't say as I blame her. Especially since, if I were a shape-shifter as versatile as he is, I would made showering really easy by just making everything easier to wash as I went. Also, Cam is awesome. And orange. :D)
There's been talk of Lyle and Condo Arlik, I believe, and I read that in the Archie Legion there were some canonically gay political reps on the UP council, apparently.