It's Time For a Gay Superman

[Shawn Hopkins]

Why? Because that's never really been done before and it would be interesting. There are hundreds of alternate takes on Superman, at least one of them might as well be gay.

I am not proposing that the New 52 Superman be made gay. Or that a Superman is created specifically to be the "Gay Superman." What I am saying is that D.C. is creating alternate Supermen all the time. The next time they create one of those, if it fits the story they want to tell, why not make that version gay while they're at it?

[butterfingers158]

I think we're done here.

[SocializingMogo]

I think this would be the best example on how NOT to handle a gay Superman.

[Prime]

Why? Because that's never really been done before and it would be interesting. There are hundreds of alternate takes on Superman, at least one of them might as well be gay.

I am not proposing that the New 52 Superman be made gay. Or that a Superman is created specifically to be the "Gay Superman." What I am saying is that D.C. is creating alternate Supermen all the time. The next time they create one of those, if it fits the story they want to tell, why not make that version gay while they're at it?

Apollo says hi.

[Shawn Hopkins]

Apollo says hi.

I love Apollo but he's not Superman. He's very different in motivation, attitude, outlook, everything but the flying brick powerset.

[ceroxide]

by that logic EVERY super hero should have a gay alternate version

and if that were the case most people would be interested in Power Girl or supergirl more

[UltraWoman]

Ok, I'll go with this a moment.

He's born of Jor-El and Lara (biologically) and sent to earth. Where does he land?

If it's in "salt-of-the-earth" Kansas he has one strike just being from a different world. Add on the possibility that he's interested in males and not females I could see there being too ways it could go. Clark hides THIS part of himself (from the Kents) because culturally being effeminate/gay in a small town is looked down on in a major way in most small towns/agricultural areas. Does he tell them before they die? Are the estranged because of it? Don't know. Regardless these things are going to play into the characterization of this version.

The other

[Legato]

This thread makes me miss Elseworld Stories.

[Jim Kelly]

It seems like a very thin premise for an Imaginary Story--and one that could very easily be offensive. I could envision MAD or NATIONAL LAMPOON doing a gay parody of Superman in the '70s with derogatory stereotypes.

Now if there was a better premise, I could see that working. For example, Krypton is advanced in both its science and its sexual politics--so let us say that Superman has a much more expansive view of human sexuality but he ends up in late 19th century England where he defends Oscar Wilde and then is himself persecuted and prosecuted by the authorities.

But reinterpreting characters as gay or Buddhist or female or Native American or what have you doesn't sit right with me. It comes across as patronizing a particular community by giving them a token recognition. It's better to have characters created from scratch who are gay or Buddhist or female or Native American or what have you--and it's better to encourage a diversity of creators to enter the field where they can write and draw what they know.

At the same time Superman doesn't have to be gay to be an icon for those readers who are gay. Anyone is free to read into the work what they want. So Sherlock Holmes, Captain Kirk, Batman, Superman or Wonder Woman can all be read as gay. That doesn't mean the stories about them have to be rewritten--and, in fact, trying to do so might kill the whole fantasy for some gay readers.

[Shawn Hopkins]

by that logic EVERY super hero should have a gay alternate version

Eventually, if they end up with enough alternate versions, sure. You do dozens of variations on a character, why not make one gay just to mix things up?

Whether something is patronizing or token is all down to the execution, Jim. I don't feel, for example, that Miles Morales is patronizing, it's just a story with a different Spider-Man.

[KOSLOX]

by that logic EVERY super hero should have a gay alternate version

and if that were the case most people would be interested in Power Girl or supergirl more

I'm not following the logic here. What does having a gay Superman have to do with liking Powergirl or Supergirl?

[butterfingers158]

I'm not following the logic here. What does having a gay Superman have to do with liking Powergirl or Supergirl?

He was saying that if all heroes had a gay version, people would be more interested in the Supergirl/Power Girl alternates, due to them being hot blonde lesbians. At least that's what I got from his post.

[KOSLOX]

He was saying that if all heroes had a gay version, people would be more interested in the Supergirl/Power Girl alternates, due to them being hot blonde lesbians. At least that's what I got from his post.

Oh, I see now. It was one of those incredibly ill informed kind of statements that was never going to make any sense.

[Jim Kelly]

Whether something is patronizing or token is all down to the execution, Jim.

Yes, but what I was saying was you have to have a larger premise than just "Superman is gay." If that's the extent of the story idea, then it's not likely going to be worthwhile. A larger premise that relies upon Superman (or any character) being gay, as an essential element to the story, could work out.

[Captain Britain of Earth 20]

Find some Pink Kryptonite lol