LGBT+ Marvel Characters Discussion

[maxhilary]

Seems to be a distinct lack of queer mutants in the Pride issue this time. Within the stories I mean. I guess they had a lot last time and want to avoid repeats but it still feels odd to me to omit them. Rictor and Shatterstar didn't get a story last time for example. And there are characters like Bling, Mercury, Tempo, Morph etc.

I don't like that Iceman hasn't been on the main cover both times now; he's one of their biggest queer characters.

[Dermie]

Seems to be a distinct lack of queer mutants in the Pride issue this time. Within the stories I mean. I guess they had a lot last time and want to avoid repeats but it still feels odd to me to omit them. Rictor and Shatterstar didn't get a story last time for example. And there are characters like Bling, Mercury, Tempo, Morph etc.

I don't like that Iceman hasn't been on the main cover both times now; he's one of their biggest queer characters.

This might not be the full list of stories -- we might see some more mutant characters in the book when it comes out.

[Drops Of Venus]

Selfishly, I'm kinda glad this year's Pride Special seems to be downsized in terms of stories. Just because last year really pissed me off with the tease of Heinberg/Cheung doing a Wickling story only for them to get a single page. Since we're getting a Young Avengers reunion this year, I want as many pages as I can get. lol

[Speed]

Since we’re talking about the pride event(hey I’m kinda new here lol) I really hope they split it into two issues. Although it seems like they’re hinting at a couple of comic runs to jump out of the event like a long over do young avengers story. There’s so many queer characters to feature it’s hard to get everyone’s favorite AND give them all plausible screen(paper? Ink? Page?)-time. That was at least my complaint about the last one was that it lacked exploring all layers and well letters of the lgbt+ community as well as having a very limited line up.

[witchboy]

Mistake or not, the decision has already been made, and I feel like they have no choice but to make the classic members fit that age range now, otherwise the team dynamic becomes messy. I can deal with America being the odd one out since she's not a founding member, but Billy, Tommy and Teddy shouldn't be a whole generation younger than Kate, Cassie and Eli. I don't see how this would work unless we're just not getting Young Avengers in the MCU at all and those characters are just gonna go and do their own individual thing in separate productions, which I wouldn't like.



Not gonna get too excited for this, because I remember clearly a casting call for a trans person for Loki, and I'm pretty sure nothing came out from that.

Having Loki's alternate universe self be played by a trans actor would've been great, if that's who the casting was for. I do feel like they were kind of cowardly to say Loki was pansexual, have him fall in love with an AU version of himself but make that Loki variant a cis woman.

[Drops Of Venus]

Having Loki's alternate universe self be played by a trans actor would've been great, if that's who the casting was for. I do feel like they were kind of cowardly to say Loki was pansexual, have him fall in love with an AU version of himself but make that Loki variant a cis woman.

I don't think we ever found out who the casting was for. I remember the description saying the role could be played by someone who identifies as either male OR female, so I think they were just blind casting a smaller character whose gender was going to be irrelevant to the plot.

But yeah, the Loki show was kinda bad with its queer representation. They had two queer lead characters and made it the most cis-heteronormative show they could. I really hope they get writers who are more passionate about explicit queer rep for season 2.

[J. D. Guy]

https://www.cbr.com/marvel-new-queer-characters/

This frustratingly more more true then it should be. Why they waited a whole year to properly use and incorporate Somnus is something that could never be explained in a way that wasn't avoiding or dishonest.

Correct me if he's been more of a constant, but Aaron Fischer, the Captain America of the Railways, is another good example of a character who had a pretty strong debut (so much untapped story you can mine about queer homelessness and vagabondry, even in the form of superheroism) who all but vanishes once his debut story finishes.

[witchboy]

https://www.cbr.com/marvel-new-queer-characters/

This frustratingly more more true then it should be. Why they waited a whole year to properly use and incorporate Somnus is something that could never be explained in a way that wasn't avoiding or dishonest.

Correct me if he's been more of a constant, but Aaron Fischer, the Captain America of the Railways, is another good example of a character who had a pretty strong debut (so much untapped story you can mine about queer homelessness and vagabondry, even in the form of superheroism) who all but vanishes once his debut story finishes.

That's the frustrating part of people saying "make new characters" as a response to a familiar character coming out (never mind that there's nothing unrealistic about someone coming out of the closet), new characters rarely get used very much at all. Just like with these characters, they get the odd anthology appearance, if we're lucky they might make a spot on a team book rarely. But it's very very rare that a character gets a big focus - America is a rare example of a character getting that chance. The cynic in me does think that it's more likely a queer woman will get the spotlight over a queer man, as it's a safer bet for their target straight male demographic.

[Crimz]

I'm still mad about Lightning disappearing again after Avengers: No Surrender. He was perfectly set-up to be on the next Avengers roster or something, but instead he's back in limbo.

[scourge]

https://www.cbr.com/marvel-new-queer-characters/

This frustratingly more more true then it should be. Why they waited a whole year to properly use and incorporate Somnus is something that could never be explained in a way that wasn't avoiding or dishonest.

Correct me if he's been more of a constant, but Aaron Fischer, the Captain America of the Railways, is another good example of a character who had a pretty strong debut (so much untapped story you can mine about queer homelessness and vagabondry, even in the form of superheroism) who all but vanishes once his debut story finishes.

What hope do new characters have when Marvel doesn't even use existing ones properly?

[Dermie]

https://www.cbr.com/marvel-new-queer-characters/

This frustratingly more more true then it should be. Why they waited a whole year to properly use and incorporate Somnus is something that could never be explained in a way that wasn't avoiding or dishonest.

To be honest, that article annoyed me with its disingenuous comments about Somnus. Marvel was up front in Somnus' debut story that it would be a little while before his storyline was picked up. His story ended with "look for Somnus next year". We were told right from the start there was more Somnus material coming, but it wasn't right away.

The reason why the delay became clear once we found out where Somnus was getting used; Orlando was going to be including him in his MARAUDERS run...but his run wasn't starting until 2022. The article makes it sound like Somnus' introduction was a big deal and then he was just forgotten about, and that simply isn't the case--there was a planned delay right from the start, and the readers were told that at the time.

Correct me if he's been more of a constant, but Aaron Fischer, the Captain America of the Railways, is another good example of a character who had a pretty strong debut (so much untapped story you can mine about queer homelessness and vagabondry, even in the form of superheroism) who all but vanishes once his debut story finishes.

No, he hasn't re-appeared yet since the end of the UNITED STATES OF CAPTAIN AMERICA mini....nor have any of the other diverse new Captains who were introduced there. However its also only been a few months since that mini ended. The writers of the upcoming new CAP book have hinted at some or all of the new Captains appearing in the upcoming run though, so we'll see what happens. Aaron is already getting a Pride variant cover on the new CAP book, so that's an encouraging sign (and we've been told he'll be showing up in an issue of one of the upcoming digital Infinity Comics as well).

[The Invincible Beawulf]

No, he hasn't re-appeared yet since the end of the UNITED STATES OF CAPTAIN AMERICA mini....nor have any of the other diverse new Captains who were introduced there. However its also only been a few months since that mini ended. The writers of the upcoming new CAP book have hinted at some or all of the new Captains appearing in the upcoming run though, so we'll see what happens. Aaron is already getting a Pride variant cover on the new CAP book, so that's an encouraging sign (and we've been told he'll be showing up in an issue of one of the upcoming digital Infinity Comics as well).

iirc, it will be the Alligator Loki: Infinity Comics

[Drops Of Venus]

That's the frustrating part of people saying "make new characters" as a response to a familiar character coming out (never mind that there's nothing unrealistic about someone coming out of the closet), new characters rarely get used very much at all. Just like with these characters, they get the odd anthology appearance, if we're lucky they might make a spot on a team book rarely. But it's very very rare that a character gets a big focus - America is a rare example of a character getting that chance. The cynic in me does think that it's more likely a queer woman will get the spotlight over a queer man, as it's a safer bet for their target straight male demographic.

And the funniest part is that America doesn't fully fit in the ''new character created as queer from the beginning'' category either, since she wasn't queer in Vengeance. It's easy for us to see her homosexuality as the standard since she only got popular in the book that outed her, but she is technically also one of those characters who had their sexuality ''changed''. It was just easier for people to accept her case because nobody cared about the character before Young Avengers.

Northstar, Wiccan and Hulkling are probably the most successful/notorious Marvel characters who were created as queer from the start, I think. I want to say Mystique too, but I'm actually not sure if Claremont created her as queer from the very beginning or if it's something that he decided along the way.

[Confuzzled]

Northstar, Wiccan and Hulkling are probably the most successful/notorious Marvel characters who were created as queer from the start, I think. I want to say Mystique too, but I'm actually not sure if Claremont created her as queer from the very beginning or if it's something that he decided along the way.

I mean Destiny turned up just two and a half years after her and it is heavily coded that they are a couple right from the start.

[scourge]

iirc, it will be the Alligator Loki: Infinity Comics

The fact that a freaking animal mascot is getting a comic...even an Infinity one...before actual characters that need more attention and exposure is just...really annoying.