When Marvel Studios first brought out 2010’s Iron Man, it heralded a new age where superheroes would dominate the cultural zeitgeist on a level not seen since the coming of Star Wars. While superheroes had had some cinematic success before with characters like Batman, Spider-Man and the X-Men, Iron Man and the Marvel movies that followed would blow the lid off box office, earning hundreds of millions, even billions of dollars.
However, one can see that the Marvel Cinematic Universe and its imitators have been slow to include LGBTQ representation. This is ironic considering that the source material for superheroes, comic books, have for a number of years been doing an increasingly visible and sophisticated job of including LGBTQ representation in their stories.
While LGBTQ characters started creeping up in the comics in the 1990s, with the marriage of Marvel’s Northstar to his boyfriend and rival DC’s creation of a new, openly lesbian Batwoman, in the last few years, some of the genre’s highest profile characters have come out. Not only that, but many of them are being given long term, stable relationships that are not tragically terminated at the end of the storyline.
More significantly, comic book creators have begun exploring the trans and gender-fluid experience from a nuanced point of view. The first to explore these issues was the award-winning Neil Gaiman, who included several trans and gender-fluid characters in his famous series Sandman. A staunch ally, Gaiman is making sure that those characters are being included in the Netflix adaptation of Sandman, as well as adaptations of other works.
The most interesting (and most high-profile) current treatment of gender-fluidity has been Marvel’s treatment of Loki. In the original Norse myths, Loki, god of mischief, sometimes manifested as a woman — a character trait unsurprisingly ignored for years in the comics, where Loki was cast more as the god of evil, arch enemy of his foster brother Thor. However, recent writers of Thor stories have allowed Loki to evolve to something similar to the Norse myths, where Loki wasn’t always just evil, and switched genders. This was acknowledged in Loki’s Disney+ series, where he met and worked with a female version of himself. In the comics, Loki is not just a villain anymore; he/she is still cunning and dangerous, but sometimes a valuable ally.
Talking high-profile, probably nothing could be more high-profile than DC Comics’ two primary franchises: Superman and Batman, both of which have undergone significant changes in their status quo in recent years.
Today’s Superman is far different from your fathers’, or even your older brothers’. Lois not only knows Clark is Superman, they’re married; Lois is the editor of the Daily Planet; and Lois and Clark have a son, Jon Kent, who, through the magic of comic book science, aged from a child to a 17-year-old virtually overnight — who recently came out. Yes, Superman’s son is gay. In a complicated story, Jon met and entered a serious relationship with young Jay Nakamora. What’s endearing about this situation is how supportive and accepting Clark and Lois are of Jon and Jay. Jon has been given several miniseries where his relationship has been portrayed front and center, one of which, Superman: Son of Kal-El, received an award of excellence from GLAAD.
The equally prominent Batman franchise has had an LGBTQ presence for some years. The current Batwoman is openly lesbian. But in recent years, another member of the Bat family has come out. Batman’s erstwhile kid sidekick Robin has been through several iterations over the years. The original, and most famous, Dick Grayson, grew up and became Nightwing. The second, Jason Todd, met a gruesome death at the hands of the Joker (he got better). The third, Tim Drake, dated a number of Gotham City girls before settling down with a handsome young man named Bernard Down. While Tim was not originally conceived as gay, LGBTQ fandom marshaled a campaign for Tim to come out. Eventually, DC Comics editorial, long supportive of LGBTQ representation in their comics, agreed.
Marvel traditionally has been a bit slower developing LGBTQ representation in their books, but lately they’ve been making some progress.
Marvel’s most popular and famous franchise is the X-Men. Recently, a member of the original team that debuted in 1963, came out. In another complicated, Bobby Drake, Iceman, was forced to admit that he had been suppressing his sexuality for years. Bobby had been dealing with the anti-mutant prejudice of his family for years, which motivated him to stay in the closet about his sexuality. Sure enough, when he had to come out, his family doubled down on their prejudice — something a lot of young LGBTQ readers could identify with, no doubt.
Bobby’s personal journey dealing with double prejudice has been fraught with emotional difficulty, but he’s now in a relationship with a young man known only as Romeo. Romeo is from a race called the Inhumans, one of Marvel’s many hidden civilizations, whose members also possess a variety of special abilities. Bobby’s and Romeo’s relationships are…complicated — but what matters is that the characters are shown to have a deep and abiding love for each other.
There are many more examples, at both Marvel and DC, heroes and villains both. At Marvel there is also the X-Men’s Kitty Pryde, the Young Avengers’ Wiccan and Hulkling, the Western hero Rawhide Kid, and the villain Mystique. At DC, we also have the original Golden Age Green Lantern, the supernatural sleuth John Constantine, the trickster Harley Quinn — even the iconic Wonder Woman had a canonical romantic relationship with another woman.
What’s encouraging is that this explosion of LGBTQ representation in comics comes at a time when unprecedented pressure is being brought to bear by right-wing extremists to censor what kids are allowed to read, especially when it comes to LGBTQ themes and characters. The creators at Marvel and DC are to be commended, not only for pushing back against MAGA prejudice and hate, but also for their understanding of how important these characters and their worlds are to people of all ages.
One need only to think back on the young black kids coming out of the first Black Panther film, excitedly giving the “Wakanda forever” salute; or the mothers proudly bringing their daughters to see Wonder Woman. In these difficult times, it’s vital to remember: representation matters.