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At the Kapow comic-book convention, DC Comics senior vice president Dan DiDio revealed that the company will rewrite one of its established heroes as gay. Fanboys have been feverishly speculating about the identity of the homosexual hero or heroine. Will it be a man? Will it be a woman? How “major” is the character? Today I’d love to hear your reactions and predictions on DC’s gay superhero. Before you offer your thoughts on the matter, let’s take a look at some modern comic-book characters that are gay.
For a long time, Northstar (Alpha Flight/X-Men) was the only openly gay superhero in mainstream comics. Marvel recently announced — on The View of all places — that Northstar will be getting married. X-Force’s Shatterstar and Rictor were an item back in 2009. The latest version of Batwoman is a lesbian. One of the newest and youngest gay superheroes is Bunker of the Teen Titans. The most badass couple in comics — straight or gay — has to be Apollo and Midnighter from The Authority/Stormwatch.
As you can see, there are a number of gay superheroes in both DC and Marvel. DiDio implied that a major character will be rewritten as gay, but how major are we talking? Several of my nerd friends think that Wonder Woman is most likely. Along with Batman and Superman, she’s one of the three pillars of the DC Universe. It doesn’t get more major than that. A few of my friends pointed out that she grew up on an island of women, so it would be natural for her to be attracted to other women. For various reasons, the mainstream media seems more comfortable with gay women than gay men, so Wonder Woman could be a “safe” choice.
A couple of my friends voted for Aquaman, simply because of his costume. I’m not getting that at all. When did orange become a gay color?!? Besides, dude is married.
As for my pick, I’m going with Red Hood. I have doubts about how big a character DC will go with. With that in mind, I can see the company claiming that Jason Todd is a major character. DC can point to Todd formerly being Robin, as well as being a key part in one of the company’s biggest crossover successes. At the same time, Red Hood is still a relatively new character and safer to play with than someone like Flash or Green Lantern.
How do you feel about DC making one of its major characters gay? Which DC Comics hero or heroine will be rewritten as gay? Please share your thoughts in the comments section!
My $ is on Wonder Woman.
Why not just create a new IP? It seems diversity for the sake of diversity.
I have no problem with this mind you, but I wouldn't read or play a game where the main character is gay. I don't read or play games that try to highlight hetero relationships as a focal point either.
That's a very fair point. There are some cynical readers that believe it's just a publicity stunt to try to one-up Marvel's gay marriage. Others feel that DC is just trying to reflect society. I understand arguments for both sides, but haven't given it enough thought myself.
What, Batman's not an option? People have suspected that one for ages. And I agree with Wonder Woman as a prediction; it seems likely.
I don't think it's Wonder Woman, because people's collective reaction will be: "We know!" It's too obvious and easy. Likewise, Batman and Robin (or the ambiguously gay duo, a-la SNL) would just prove Robot Chicken as a soothsayer along with countless snickering juveniles who have long made jokes at their expense. Besides, re-writing Bruce Wayne from billionaire playboy to billionaire playgirl is way too radical of a step.
Superman and Aquaman both dress gay, but they both have female love interests, so it wouldn't make sense. I'm going to also exclude the Martian Manhunter because… well, he's a Martian and I don't think he's too relatable (at least Superman LOOKS human and can be mistaken for one). So, MM as gay wouldn't really make any headlines. Robin (all of them) don't really strike me as "pillars" of the DC Universe, but I guess any one of them could be a "safe" choice. I thought Nightwing may have been a prime candidate, but then I thought; "No way. That guy wants to bang The Huntress so bad he may have to add a circular, blue trim to his costume around the crotch area."
So then the list gets narrowed down. Green Arrow's facial hair and bow-and-arrow shtick is reminiscent of 17th century France, so that's pretty gay right there. Although aside from that, I got nothing. Also green is the Green Lantern. Unfortunately, anyone who wears the ring becomes the Green Lantern, so it’s not really fair to have all of the former and future Green Lanterns into the mix. Any one of them can be gay, but that doesn’t mean that the next one will be. Unless… the ring itself is gay! Then, that would explain a lot. They could simply accuse the Red Lantern Corps of being homophobic. In addition, they could put Nekron in his place, but that ain’t right since “The Man” is always trying to keep the Black Lantern Corps down.
The Flash was my initial candidate, but I've seen a few iterations of him that really tries hard with the ladies. I guess that he could be rewritten as gay, but then the "speedy sodomy" jokes that will ensue seem to just write themselves. That leaves us with Hawkman. Let's face it; that ornate headpiece and leather-strapped, bare-upper body get-up just screams "homoerotic". I could totally see that as the Halloween costume du-jour at The Blue Oyster Club. So, I'll go with Hawkman as the pillow-biter hider. Either that, or the actual Green Lantern ring is gay.
-M
Nickleback is gay. And let's face it, their lead singer clearly thinks he's Batman because his voice gets more gravelly on every album. So thus I predict that Batman will be the new gay character. Why not? It's no less ridiculous than any other speculative thought process….
I like you. No homo
The argument against Batman and Superman is that it would be redundant now that Apollo and Midnighter are part of the proper DC Universe.
Yeah, I don't really think they'd do it with Batman either. I was just being silly…..and bashing Nickleback.
Wonder Woman does certainly seem like a safe choice. A pillar of DC comics, but without such mainstream success as Batman or enduring popularity as Superman. Also, the point about gay women being more accepted than gay men is fairly valid. Robin (Dick Grayson) would be a good choice because DC could easily argue that he is a pillar character, there have always been rumors about he and Batman being gay, Dick later became Nightwing who was voiced very well by Neil Patrick Harris (also gay and mainstream popular), and come on he is called "Dick"…do I really need to say anything else about that one??
Also, it would make this relevant. http://i.imgur.com/ZtA6e.jpg
The problem with Nightwing is that he's one of the biggest whores in DCU.
Even more perfect to pair Nightwing with NPH in the future, since he is gay but the characters he plays are always the biggest whores around, haha.
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/entertainment/2012/05…
“One of the major iconic DC characters will reveal that he is gay in a storyline in June,” Courtney Simmons, DC Entertainment’s senior vice president of publicity, confirmed to ABC News.
HE is gay… we have confirmation that it's a male, and iconic.
As for my guesses, Look at Green Arrow's outfit and moustache! Then again, the name Martian Manhunter says it all.
Green Arrow is almost as big a whore as Nightwing. I'm not sure about J'onn. He's an alien. It wouldn't have the same impact.
Lol@n8
The name Martian Manhunter says it all….
It's probably Hawkman.
All-Star Comics #3…the first appearance of both Wonder Woman and Hawkman. The third or fourth most influential book in DC comics history. They are both totally gay.
He might be around alot of women, but does he seal the deal? That in and of itself is a red flag.
Honestly, my first thought when I first read about this was Booster Gold. But then I thought he wasn't iconic enough. However, a gay Booster Gold would be amazingly entertaining.
Hawkman makes the most sense given the clues, but I don't know. I just can't picture him getting his swerve on with anything.
I'm pretty sure it's not Capt. Marvel, since he's really a 10 year old kid and that's kinda creepy.
I was thinking maybe one of the green lanterns
Geoff johns has been answering twitter questions about this for a week but youve been busy so id figure id wait. He has said that it is a major DC character but it is one that has not been re-introduced yet in the new52 storylines. I really believe it's going to be martian manhunter.
Going by John's word, it can't be J'onn. He's an active member of Stormwatch. That would also give the team three gay members.
So instead of something like "Avengers Assemble!" the phrase would be more like "Stormwatch… HOLLA!"
Yes sir i forgot about it. I dont read that series so it slippEd my mind since he is not in the JL series yet.
Which would the right wing complain about more? The man-love, or the interspecies relations?
Regardless, they'll blame Obama for it.
I got it!
It's Elongated Man.
Haha