Alan Scott in the Green Lantern 80th Anniversary *spoilers*

[Dred]

Congratulations, Obsidian, you are now incredibly extra pointless. Go join your sister Jade, I guess.

[Robanker]

When it comes to gay/bi characters in DC, when you look at the ones who are being actively used, there's a huge difference in gender.
For women you have Wonder Woman, Catwoman, Harley Quinn, Batwoman,Crush, Thunder and Grace and supporting characters like Talia, Maggie Sawyer, Renee Montoya, Holly Robinson, etc. Some aren't as active as others but there's some big household names there.
For gay men that are currently active there's Aqualad. That's the biggest gay male character DC is using. And then Constantine who is bi. Now Alan Scott is gay. There are others that exist, like Apollo and Midnighter, but not being actively used beyond the odd short story here and there. The Ray and Bunker exist but where are they? Pied Piper shows up every now and then.
There are stories that can be told with a closeted gay Alan Scott in the JSA that haven't been done, not often if at all, so that is interesting. So many people act like gay people didn't exist until Disco.
DC does need to have a better gay male presence. Alan Scott is a step in the right direction, but I would like to see a bigger name come out. It'll never be Batman or Superman, I'm not pushing for that. But a bisexual Nightwing, or someone on that level, is needed.

Nightwing would feel more like an asspull, and honestly Constantine has had a movie (I know, it's not super accurate), presence on another TV show and a lot of animated movies.

He's getting more of a multimedia push than Nightwing. John is pretty big, I think you're discounting him. He always has a book going on.

Someone in the Flash or Super families is probably a good place to start. There's a lot less representation there than, say, Gotham.

Nightwing has 80 years of publishing history really pushing his relationships with women and his particular love life is so common to his stories that it's probably the most discussed thing about him, with every Nightwing fan growing ever more exhausted with the endless focus on it.
DickBabs this, DickFire that. He's not a very good example. Unlike Alan, they're getting a lot out of Nightwing's love life and constantly developing it in that direction. I cannot really fathom a way that reveal makes any degree of sense by this point, especially since he's usually been cool with LGBTQ+ people and it's very comfortable with himself and sharing his feelings, so you can't attack the repressed angle like with Alan. I really can't see it.

[witchboy]

Nightwing, or someone on that level.
I don't actually expect Nightwing to come out as bi.
Jon Kent would be a perfect character to develop as gay or bi, as his sexuality is still a blank page.
Go all the way with that, and let Damien come out and be his boyfriend when he gets old enough.
People who object to an established character coming out often say create a new character. Well, there they are.

[Midnighter]

Congratulations, Obsidian, you are now incredibly extra pointless. Go join your sister Jade, I guess.

I don't know though. Let's take into account that Alan's story would be that he's a man from the 1940's-50's who was forced to be in the closet for his whole life and has struggled with all that entails.

Then imagine his son comes out of the closet and finds happiness and acceptance and maybe Alan struggles with either why he himself has waited so long to come to terms with his own sexuality or maybe he is a tiny bit jealous that Todd was able to so easily find acceptance and be able to be himself in a way that Alan wanted to all of those years.

Or conversely maybe he's really proud of and happy for Todd for the exact same reasons.

I feel like with the right writer , it has the potential for some interesting stories that keep both Alan and Todd relevant. There are more to Alan and Todd than their shared sexuality.

[Dred]

I don't know though. Let's take into account that Alan's story would be that he's a man from the 1940's-50's who was forced to be in the closet for his whole life and has struggled with all that entails.

Then imagine his son comes out of the closet and finds happiness and acceptance and maybe Alan struggles with either why he himself has waited so long to come to terms with his own sexuality or maybe he is a tiny bit jealous that Todd was able to so easily find acceptance and be able to be himself in a way that Alan wanted to all of those years.

Or conversely maybe he's really proud of and happy for Todd for the exact same reasons.

I feel like with the right writer , it has the potential for some interesting stories that keep both Alan and Todd relevant. There are more to Alan and Todd than their shared sexuality.

Yes, it's now all about Alan instead of about Obsidian. The entire focus of the conversation on coming out as gay in a world that does not want to accept it will be Alan's retconned story (when Alan himself has plenty of amazing story beats and history already) as opposed to Obsidian. It's really, really annoying to me. You can pretend there's "more" to Todd than his sexuality but his sexuality was certainly the biggest part of his character development. How it impacts his life and his relationship with his bigoted father (a foible for Alan which will now be turned around into self loathing and doubt, again inverting Alan).

I'm super, incredibly on board with more gay male representation in comics. I just think this is one of the stupidest ways to do it and doubly invalidates a character who was intentionally designed to tell gay positive stories. I wouldn't want Jay Garrick retconned into being gay and suddenly inverting all of his relationship history as well, either.

[Midnighter]

You can pretend there's "more" to Todd than his sexuality but his sexuality was certainly the biggest part of his character development.

I quoted only this part because I find it interesting.

You do raise some really good points in the rest of your post though, I think. I can see why not everyone would be on board with this take and that is ok.

[Robanker]

Nightwing, or someone on that level.
I don't actually expect Nightwing to come out as bi.
Jon Kent would be a perfect character to develop as gay or bi, as his sexuality is still a blank page.
Go all the way with that, and let Damien come out and be his boyfriend when he gets old enough.
People who object to an established character coming out often say create a new character. Well, there they are.

I'm on board with Jon so long as it's not Damian because that kid's an abusive mess and Jon deserves better. There's hints towards him and Imra over in Legion, though, so who knows what's going on with Jon?

[witchboy]

I'm on board with Jon so long as it's not Damian because that kid's an abusive mess and Jon deserves better. There's hints towards him and Imra over in Legion, though, so who knows what's going on with Jon?

I seriously doubt that DC will have the stones to have Jon or Damian be gay, much less both of them.

[Mr.B]

Jon is kissing Imra on some cover.

[witchboy]

Jon is kissing Imra on some cover.

It doesn't rule out that Jon could be bi/pan, or after the difficult growing up years just hasn't figured out he's gay, but it is looking less likely.

[Robanker]

It doesn't rule out that Jon could be bi/pan, or after the difficult growing up years just hasn't figured out he's gay, but it is looking less likely.

There's always the chance Bendis doubles down on how Jean outed Bobby with Imra and Jon respectively. It is Bendis, after all.

In all seriousness, it seems too ballsy for DC to make either their Superman or Batman for a new line of books LGBTQ+. They've always been much more comfortable with women coming out than men, so we'll see how much that has changed. Bringing things back around to Alan Scott:

He's the big gun of the golden age outside Dr. Fate, The Spectre and Wonder Woman. He's a Green Lantern. He's the elder statesman of the DCU.

He's also the GL most people haven't heard of. He's the GL least likely to have a solo book. He's the GL least likely to star in other media. He's a safe pick that way, much as Apollo or Midnighter are.

They always go with the side characters, and to be fair to them, 40-80 years of publishing history is a pretty strong reason to not try and make a big reveal about most of them because there's a wealth of stories contradicting it in some fashion, but Jon is a new character. He's the Superman of tomorrow and only five years old as an idea. The son of Superman is likely to show up in some adaptions going forward (and already has, frankly). He could definitely hold a book for a while. He's a great candidate for all those reasons.

I won't be disappointed if he's straight, but he's a blank enough slate that bisexual seems very plausible, if not gay, though with how he was around Kathy and Imra I would argue he fits the usual tropes for young boys growing up of having an interest in girls and they seem to be going that way with him. Just don't hook him up with Damien. I hate that brat!

[Bored at 3:00AM]

I think we need to sit back for a moment and appreciate how far DC is pushing forward in terms of trying to be more representative.

DC is currently run by the black woman who successfully sued Trump's guy at Marvel with Jim freaking Lee. Currently, they have Batman marrying a bisexual Catwoman, alongside a bisexual Wonder Woman from an island chock full of lesbians forming the first super team with a closeted gay man in the 1940s.

Oh, and the.new Batwoman is also gay and black.

[TheCape]

I think we need to sit back for a moment and appreciate how far DC is pushing forward in terms of trying to be more representative.

DC is currently run by the black woman who successfully sued Trump's guy at Marvel with Jim freaking Lee. Currently, they have Batman marrying a bisexual Catwoman, alongside a bisexual Wonder Woman from an island chock full of lesbians forming the first super team with a closeted gay man in the 1940s.

Oh, and the.new Batwoman is also gay and black.

Wasn't the wedding between Bat and Cat cancelled?

[Bored at 3:00AM]

Wasn't the wedding between Bat and Cat cancelled?

They're married, just not as Bruce and Selina, but as Bat & Cat.

[Will Evans]

There's always the chance Bendis doubles down on how Jean outed Bobby with Imra and Jon respectively. It is Bendis, after all.

In all seriousness, it seems too ballsy for DC to make either their Superman or Batman for a new line of books LGBTQ+. They've always been much more comfortable with women coming out than men, so we'll see how much that has changed. Bringing things back around to Alan Scott:

He's the big gun of the golden age outside Dr. Fate, The Spectre and Wonder Woman. He's a Green Lantern. He's the elder statesman of the DCU.

He's also the GL most people haven't heard of. He's the GL least likely to have a solo book. He's the GL least likely to star in other media. He's a safe pick that way, much as Apollo or Midnighter are.

They always go with the side characters, and to be fair to them, 40-80 years of publishing history is a pretty strong reason to not try and make a big reveal about most of them because there's a wealth of stories contradicting it in some fashion, but Jon is a new character. He's the Superman of tomorrow and only five years old as an idea. The son of Superman is likely to show up in some adaptions going forward (and already has, frankly). He could definitely hold a book for a while. He's a great candidate for all those reasons.

I won't be disappointed if he's straight, but he's a blank enough slate that bisexual seems very plausible, if not gay, though with how he was around Kathy and Imra I would argue he fits the usual tropes for young boys growing up of having an interest in girls and they seem to be going that way with him. Just don't hook him up with Damien. I hate that brat!

Plus Jon’s about to be adapted in media for the first time in to the new Superman & Lois show