LGBT+ Marvel Characters Discussion

[witchboy]

It's implied Misty and Gwen are in a relationship, but honestly, it feels hollow.

What Marvel is doing with Gwen is textbook definition of queer baiting; they would introduce a alternate universe Spider-Gwen, heavily imply that version is lesbian or bi (never outright state she is, just imply), then that version is never seen again, while they never actually commit to actually give the main Spider-Gwen a female love interest.

So far we have the battle world A-Force Gwen who appeared for one panel and it's implied she is in a relationship with MJ; the alternate Gwen from the initial Seanan Maguire run where she became the Green Goblin, implied to be in a relationship with MJ; and now this Gwen, who is implied to be with Misty. And then we never saw any of this versions of Gwen again while they keep giving male love interests to main Spider-Gwen.

It may be worth pointing out that the classic Exiles series had an AU MJ who had a relationship with Exile's Sunfire aka Mariko Yashida, while the mainstream versions of those characters were always straight.

[gonnagiveittoya]

I saw in that Pride trailer that released was that Carols in it? Is she bi? When did that happen?

[Will Evans]

I saw in that Pride trailer that released was that Carols in it? Is she bi? When did that happen?

We’ll find out tomorrow when the Pride issue is realized.

Maybe she’s being an ally. Won’t know until tomorrow.

[gonnagiveittoya]

I feel like if she were bi that'd be a much bigger deal than Somnus

[Frontier]

I saw in that Pride trailer that released was that Carols in it? Is she bi? When did that happen?

I think I saw her, Tony, and Rhodey.

(Probably just there as allies).

[Drops Of Venus]

spoilers:

Loki is officially our first queer superhero in the MCU! There was a mention of his bisexuality in today's episode of Loki.

end of spoilers

[gonnagiveittoya]

So that's why spoilers:

they initially wanted Loki bring on the Pride cover to be a surprise then.

end of spoilers

[Will Evans]

So that's why spoilers:

they initially wanted Loki bring on the Pride cover to be a surprise then.

end of spoilers

And you guys didn’t believe me

[Dante Milton]

The Voices: Pride book was fine, not great, not terrible, just fine.

The Good: Oliveira's Iceman story was great, I really liked Gillen's Prodigy story, and Howard's Mystique and Destiny story was surprisingly very good.

The Not So Good: The framing story was entirely too self congratulatory, and quite frankly unearned. Marvel's self promotion throughout was tacky. The Anole story was clunky, and using Daken was not a great choice. The Northstar story felt perfunctory, like they felt they had to include him because of his history but the story was so bland it could have been about anyone, it also had the worst art of the book, off putting. The Karma story was odd, she felt too timid and inexperienced. The Alpha Flight reprint was a waste of space that could have been used to flesh out some of these stories instead. Marvel promoted X-Factor for the book's queer content, but they cancelled the book, shitty. They also promoted X-Men #1 but there are no canonically queer characters on that book. Tasteless.

The rest was just kind of fine.

[Confuzzled]

So that's why spoilers:

they initially wanted Loki bring on the Pride cover to be a surprise then.

end of spoilers

Naah, ya'll are giving the comics side too much credit. Doubt they know the specifics of what is going to be revealed on the film/tv side.

[Wiccan]

It made me really happy, honestly... I had to pause and take a moment while I was watching. I know it might not be big or whatever but I always had that feeling that they would never confirm Loki being queer at all. And even the gender thing can be debatable cause he's a shapeshifter and whatever. It's not ambiguous with room for other interpretations but it still felt natural and flew well with the conversation they were having.

It's cool to know as well that the director is bi herself and this mattered to her. With even confirmed "bisexual lightning" lol.

[Lucas 35]

But someone found it ironic that in Voices when talking about big gay moments, they talked about America #7(2017) -"America Chavez's origin story - including cosmic lesbians!"

I hate the new retcon, hope Marvel ignores, even more than in the movie, her role as heroine traveling the multiverse is probably going to be important, right?

[Frontier]

It made me really happy, honestly... I had to pause and take a moment while I was watching. I know it might not be big or whatever but I always had that feeling that they would never confirm Loki being queer at all. And even the gender thing can be debatable cause he's a shapeshifter and whatever. It's not ambiguous with room for other interpretations but it still felt natural and flew well with the conversation they were having.

It's cool to know as well that the director is bi herself and this mattered to her. With even confirmed "bisexual lightning" lol.

It might just be me but the way Sylvie talks about herself in relation to the male Loki feels like a transwoman talking about her old gender identity to the point where "Loki" is her deadname. I'm not sure how deliberate that is.

[Anduinel]

Mystique and Destiny's story was my favorite. The Bobby and Magneto story although cute was hardly believable.

Also, was anyone disturbed by Northstar's "shriveled" look on that one page?

I didn't think he looked shriveled, I thought he looked skinned! And yes, it was in no way a good look. I have no idea why Marvel didn't just tap Williams to write the Northstar/Kyle short - or Grace or Tynion or literally anyone else who might have something to say about either character. I mean, yeah it's just two pages, but all it was was a POV story from Kyle that told us literally nothing about either character that hasn't already been done, despite the huge shift in their status quo. Bleh.

Anyway, mixed bag. Somnus' arrival didn't amount to much, but looks like there's more in store and the art was lovely. The Iceman story definitely was a highlight, and the Thinkfast story was neat. The Alpha Flight reprint was a waste of space; they'd already reprinted the danged thing twice over in Astonishing, and it was once too many. The Cooper interview was enough of a nod to history, I think. But mostly, it just felt more safe than celebratory.

[Dermie]

The Not So Good: The framing story was entirely too self congratulatory, and quite frankly unearned.

I disagree. I really enjoyed that intro story and the effort to acknowledge as much of Marvel's LGBT history as possible and to give cameos to as many of the characters as possible. How can it be unearned if they are literally recapping the characters who have appeared, and some of the major moments that occurred along the way? It also acknowledges that the LGBT representation has been a gradual improvement over time, with the relatively-recent introductions of Wiccan and Hulkling starting a "fresh wave of visibility" and acknowledging that Rictor and Shatterstar's first on-panel kiss was considered a historic moment because they had only been allowed to be coded before that.

I don't think its self-congratulatory--I think its meant as a celebration of all the LGBT characters who have come along, and also a bit of a history lesson for people reading this one-shot who may have never heard of some of these characters before, or didn't know they were gay, etc.

The Anole story was clunky, and using Daken was not a great choice.

Daken was a bit of an awkward fit there, I agree, but since it was only meant as a platonic dance its not too bad.

The Northstar story felt perfunctory, like they felt they had to include him because of his history but the story was so bland it could have been about anyone, it also had the worst art of the book, off putting.

I like stories where we get to see Northstar from Kyle's POV, since Jean-Paul can be such a prickly character with basically everyone else, these stories let us get to see a different side of him. The story was so brief though it didn't get a chance to say much--but the joke with his underwear did make me smile.

The Karma story was odd, she felt too timid and inexperienced.

Looking at Karma's romantic history--or lack of same--that actually may be appropriate for her, unfortunately. Hopefully this story is a first step in correcting that.

They also promoted X-Men #1 but there are no canonically queer characters on that book. Tasteless.

I noticed that--and I wondered if that was a hint that maybe someone will be getting outed in that book. Sunfire is in the cast and his sexual orientation is still up for grabs....