DC's Closet of costumes and beards and other allusions to...

[iron chimp]

Probably all of them. Youre a ripped mass of muscle in spandex with a secret identity.....

Even DC ended up publishing enigma which is just one long take on the homoerotic menage a trois between author reader and character.

[Lee Stone]

Fire had something going on with Booster for a hot-minute...I think.

He has a thing with Artemis (the redheaded Amazon).

Practically all of them were, and I somehow doubt that is the case in the main universe.

I doubt Lois Lane and Kara Zor-El would ever make out in the main universe, for instance.

Fire also had something going on with Oberon.
They flirted some and they were shown to be together ten years in the future in the Armageddon 2001 Annual.

[Robanker]

Yeah, any BFF situation usually gets the "secretly gay" thing. Fire and Ice, Clark and Bruce, Ted and Booster, Babs and Dinah, etc etc. In most cases I don't agree with the interpretation, and as a general rule I don't want to see close friendships like that turned into romance. Just because you're friends doesn't mean you want to screw each other.

I think Fire and Ice might get it a little worse than average maybe, and off the top of my head I can't recall any meaningful relationships Fire has had, so I guess there's that. But Ice and Guy are too entrenched for Tora to be gay. I question her taste in men if Guy is what does it for her, but she's not gay.

There's nothing on the page that supports or hints at it, at least as far as I know, but for some reason I always thought Jason Todd might be gay, or at least bi.

Definitely, though in Guy and Tora's defense, she brings out a much better side of him. I can see Jason being bi.

[9th.]

Tim and Conner but I that might be Pinterest/Tumblr infecting my brain.

[9th.]

Probably all of them. Youre a ripped mass of muscle in spandex with a secret identity.....

Even DC ended up publishing enigma which is just one long take on the homoerotic menage a trois between author reader and character.

lmao that's one way to look at it.

[PurpleGlovez]

I'm not going to mince words: this phenomenon of people "shipping" Damian and Jon is absolutely disgusting. They're children. Take your perverted fetish somewhere else.

Also, Alan Scott and J'onn J'onzz are both married with children. Jason Todd has been involved with multiple women and never expressed interest in a man.

[batnbreakfast]

I never got why the readers need to explore their sexuality through a superhero comic lens? Probably because the only thing some guys read is comics? Its like watching only superhero movies when there is material more rich out there. Are there professionals openly living in non-man-woman-relationships and it infects their art? In Europe no one cares... is that an American thing? Just curious

[Robanker]

I think there's usually a rush to jump to "interested in the same sex" when extremely close same sex friendships are depicted. Plus, y'know, shipping.

I don't see it with Al Pratt. It's just the kind of character he is and, from what I've read, he was really committed to his girl.

I think J'onn might be open to anything...but he's also too devoted to his wife.

I mean Alan had two great loves in his life and fathered kids with one of those women, but some still think he's closeted because he was stoic in said relationship (as he is in all walks of life), so I think if we're going to consider Alan, then Al Pratt is fair game as well. Not saying I really think either was, but I think Al is probably the one I would buy the easiest because he traditionally responded with anger when someone would question his height (which he felt reflected his worth as a man). It's a similar behavior insecure men have when their sexuality is questioned and fits with what admittedly little I've read about Al. He seems like the kind of person who overcompensates for what others think of him. Short? Be super manly. Secretly gay? Date a woman and be really extra about it. If we're telling a story about a golden ager coming out of the closet, I think there's more to work with there than with others. I admit it's a bit of a reach, but so is trying to reconfigure any character with long histories. It's usually difficult to pull off, though it can appear effortless when done well (business man Lex Luthor, for example).

I agree, J'onn is in the Michael Holt camp of "but muh dead wife" that is holding him back, but I can also see him being a pansexual (as we understand it) being who fell in love with a woman and formed a life with her. One doesn't preclude the other.

[Lee Stone]

I never got why the readers need to explore their sexuality through a superhero comic lens? Probably because the only thing some guys read is comics? Its like watching only superhero movies when there is material more rich out there. Are there professionals openly living in non-man-woman-relationships and it infects their art? In Europe no one cares... is that an American thing? Just curious

I file it with the strange desire to fit superheroes into the real world.

[Restingvoice]

With respect to Fire and Ice, it bothered me because I can't think of too many platonic female relationships at DC that don't get hit with shipping. Barbara and Dinah have the same thing going for them. In both cases, I don't really see it for them.

Babs and Dinah is something Gail Simone deliberately inserted as subtext. I think she said it on Twitter. One panel art that often circulates on Tumblr is Dinah hugging Babs, placing her head on her neck, asking to call them by their real name after saving her (from drowning so they're wet) by Greg Land looks very blatantly suggestive.

But only in her series. I don't think other authors picked up on it.

There's nothing on the page that supports or hints at it, at least as far as I know, but for some reason I always thought Jason Todd might be gay, or at least bi.

Dini hinted on it in an interview, that there is something he wants to write about Jason that he can't say out loud, and some of the dialogue in Dini's work on Jason can be read as a straight man joking or a bi man hinting through a joke
"I love seeing your work," he said watching Batman on TV while a bazooka is placed in front of him like an erection
"So is this a conjugal visit?" when Batman visited him in prison
Some jokes about enjoying cavity search
Calling his former assassin mentor cute because his accents shows up when he's angry

Of course, all of this is also fanservice

Speaking of fanservice, King, Seeley, and Orlando like to play up Dick and Midnighter, sometimes Dick and Tiger, to the point where they have to backpedal because people actually think they're gonna reveal Dick as bi

[Ascended]

I never got why the readers need to explore their sexuality through a superhero comic lens? Probably because the only thing some guys read is comics? Its like watching only superhero movies when there is material more rich out there. Are there professionals openly living in non-man-woman-relationships and it infects their art? In Europe no one cares... is that an American thing? Just curious

>shrug<

Blame Superman, I guess? Romance has been a factor in the superhero genre since 1938, and when you combine that with today's world and comics being so behind when it comes to representation, you end up with fans who're bored under quarantine talking about which straight characters might actually be something else.

[Dred]

The same sex shipping stuff with Fire and Ice and Dinah and Babs and even Jon and Damian is, honestly, because LGBT are so starved for something that they can relate to that is significant or included in the major franchises and characters they like that they push these ideas.

Now:

I'm not going to mince words: this phenomenon of people "shipping" Damian and Jon is absolutely disgusting. They're children. Take your perverted fetish somewhere else.

I'm going to broach this as gently as I can. Children, even in comics, can display attraction and romantic interest in one another without it being sick, disgusting, or a perverted fetish. The idea that Jon and Damian could do that in a homoromantic manner is just as acceptable as, say, Jon getting flustered and interested when Kathy Branden was cute and flirted with him. There is nothing gross about puppy love. The only reason you think it's disgusting, gross, or perverted is literally because it's between two males instead of a male or female, because I haven't seen anyone depict interest in any sexual scenes with these characters anywhere on this forum...besides you, at this point.

A gay Superman and Batman isn't even a fresh idea. That's literally what Apollo and Midnighter are.

I never got why the readers need to explore their sexuality through a superhero comic lens? Probably because the only thing some guys read is comics? Its like watching only superhero movies when there is material more rich out there. Are there professionals openly living in non-man-woman-relationships and it infects their art? In Europe no one cares... is that an American thing? Just curious

Comic books have had romance and sexual relationships for decades. The fact that only one kind of relationship has seen much play for a long time ostracizes people who aren't compatible with that.

[Frontier]

Babs and Dinah is something Gail Simone deliberately inserted as subtext. I think she said it on Twitter. One panel art that often circulates on Tumblr is Dinah hugging Babs, placing her head on her neck, asking to call them by their real name after saving her (from drowning so they're wet) by Greg Land looks very blatantly suggestive.

But only in her series. I don't think other authors picked up on it.

There was also supposed to be a line in Simone's BoP where Dinah says she's not 100% heterosexual, and the line was originally going to make it to print, but a printing error prevented it.

Although otherwise I don't think she's ever really shown much attraction to women beyond deep friendship.

[Will Evans]

Make a Superwoman that’s lesbian or bi. Or better yet supergirl.

Then watch her dynamic with Batwoman.

[Lee Stone]

The same sex shipping stuff with Fire and Ice and Dinah and Babs and even Jon and Damian is, honestly, because LGBT are so starved for something that they can relate to that is significant or included in the major franchises and characters they like that they push these ideas.

At the same time, though, it sends out a message that a close platonic relationship between two men or two women is not normal.
That there must be something 'going on' between them.

I'm perfectly fine with Beetle and Booster just being 'bros' or Fire and Ice just being 'bffs 4ever'.

If readers want to fantasize about it, though, that's fine with me.