LGBT+ Marvel Characters Discussion

[Dermie]

Yes and no. The characters are around, but a lot of the time they're not exactly doing much.

True enough (at least in some cases) but its still quite a number of books with LGBT characters appearing in them in a single week. It wasn't all that long ago you wouldn't see that many books with a gay character in an entire month. While its important to continue to strive for improvement, its also important to recognize the progress that's been made.

[BroHomo]

As inevitable as that was, I can't help but feel sad about that. He got a taste of what it felt like to be truly himself at such a young age, and now he has to go back to all of those years of hiding and faking. Part of me was hoping they would stick to the AU thing established at the end of All-New X-Men, so that way at least young Bobby could get a happy ending. I mean, he IS going to get a happy ending eventually when he gets older, but the time invested on the character and his journey makes it hard to accept the same old same as a conclusion to his story.

I mean he still tetd to bang out Opal Tanaka
Sooooo
Don't feel too bad for Our dear old friend Bobby

[ETMike1988]

Good news!
spoilers:

D-Man is alive and well.

end of spoilers

[Crimz]

This may be appreciated here (from Fantastic Four#5):




Plus an appearance from D-Man.
(and maybe some more hints about Johnny)

[Wiccan]

This may be appreciated here (from Fantastic Four#5):




Plus an appearance from D-Man.
(and maybe some more hints about Johnny)

Omg. Who's that artist?

[Triniking1234]

D-Man's still alive (read Fantastic Four #5). I told you so.

[Wiccan]

I love that we're on this era of Marvel where characters who previously died just show up like nothing happened lol. Same happened with EyeBoy.

[Triniking1234]

Also the artist is Adam Hughes.

[Strong Girl Daken]

Someone frame that panel.

[Snoop Dogg]

The gays can retcon the X-Office's messes to another reality, their power is infinite. #D-ManFanClub #DennisARealOne #Haaaaaaard My guy has died THREE times and refuses to stop winning for the LGBTs.

Now adopt me, dorky Bubblegum Thor.

[Dermie]

I love that we're on this era of Marvel where characters who previously died just show up like nothing happened lol. Same happened with EyeBoy.

To be fair, those deaths were unconfirmed on-panel and editorial had already said that they did not die. So it was really only a matter of time before they all turned up (and arguably D-Man already did turn up in the LOCKJAW miniseries, which overlapped with the release of VENOMIZED).

The weirder thing is D-Man being back in costume here after being powerless in LOCKJAW. But my no-prize explanation until/unless they establish something else in-story is that his power loss was a temporary side-effect of his surviving the incident in VENOMIZED, and his powers eventually came back on their own between the end of LOCKJAW and his appearance in FF #5.

[Beetle]

If it means Rage is alive again, then I guess I can accept the return of Eye Boy.

For now

[Drops Of Venus]

This may be appreciated here (from Fantastic Four#5):




Plus an appearance from D-Man.
(and maybe some more hints about Johnny)

DAMN! That Thor's looking like a snack.



Glad to hear about D-Man.

Also, what were the maybe hints about Johnny? I love your enthusiasm for his possible bisexuality.

[Crimz]

DAMN! That Thor's looking like a snack.


Glad to hear about D-Man.

Also, what were the maybe hints about Johnny? I love your enthusiasm for his possible bisexuality.

The Fantastic Four isn't the most diverse group. I love them, but I can understand why some might not be interested or not find them relatable. The core team will never be racially diverse and with the loss of the Future Foundation they've lost their only diverse representation of Onome (the Wakandan genius) and Tong (the transgender Moloid). It shows to me how easy it is to unintentionally remove diversity when your diverse characters are part of the supporting cast instead of the main.

I think Johnny being bi not only makes sense when you look back on all things you can interpret in his history, but also as a main character he isn't going to be limbo'd away for very long. Plus there are so few bisexual heroes and bisexuals are very underrepresented in media as a whole. When we do get bisexual characters, they are usually morally grey or villains which is messed up. You can count the amount of heroic bisexual superheroes on your hands. So I think Johnny is a perfect existing hero to be revealed as being bi.

Things that I think could be set-up for this reveal in this run:

Issue 1 of Slott's run has Johnny and Wyatt (his best friend since college) hang out together. But the body language and the way they were together made them seem more like a couple than friends. It wasn't only me who noticed either, as quite a few other posters and readers on the internet saw the same thing. The artist on this issue was Sara Pichelli, an artist known for being great at conveying body language in her art. Which makes me think/hope it's intentional.
The next three issues are mainly about Reed and Sue's return so you don't see Wyatt.

The latest issue (issue 5) has Johnny reflecting on his past failed relationships and hitting on any woman he see's, he asked Thundra to be his plus one but Ben stopped that and he even hit on a supervillain. Ben noticed that Johnny was being weird and we get this (spoilers for Fantastic Four #5):



With Ben getting married Johnny is feeling more like a failure because of his failed relationships. Ben's advice of him to not force it, that he'll know when it's right and to make that leap of faith leads me to think that his next relationship may not be with a woman and may even be with his friend Wyatt. Particularly the advice to make the leap and be brave stands out the most to me. Johnny trying to start a relationship with Wyatt would be a scary new thing for him that would need confidence. He has confidence in starting relationships with women (as we saw this issue), but with a man who is also his best friend would be frightening new territory for him. Ben's advice makes the most sense in that scenario.

Also, throughout this story Wyatt has been stuck to Johnny like glue. Instead of Thundra joining Johnny at the wedding we have Wyatt with him again. Plus little subtle things like this image during the bachelor party:



The solicit for issue 7 says this: "plus a strange new development in the life of the Human Torch.". Which is also making raise an eyebrow.

All of this leads to be believe something is brewing. I can easily be looking too hard and it's not the case at all. But if it is I'm happy that Slott is slowly building it up. My issue with Iceman's outing was that there was zero set-up in the run he was outed. I understand that there were hints and references in past runs, but that there wasn't even a throwaway line during Bendis' run before Bobby was outed made it seem really random. If Johnny is going to be revealed to be bi then I think that Slott is going about it the right way by setting it up instead of just throwing it out there.

[Crimz]

Wow I did not think I'd write that much lol.

Sorry for the long post.