# Which comic superheros, superheroines or villains could plausibly go gay? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 12, 2003, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-comic-superheros-superheroines-or-villains-could-plausibly-go-gay/187970 "2003-07-12T14:48:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![RangerDude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9e8a1a/32.png) [@RangerDude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RangerDude)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2003, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-comic-superheros-superheroines-or-villains-could-plausibly-go-gay/187970/21 "2003-07-12T23:03:13Z")
Hi, Mockingbird. Yes, I did read it from cover to cover, as I said in my earlier post that you quoted. Not everyone liked that book. But then again not everyone found it offensive. But that’s true in life about lots of things. ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2003, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-comic-superheros-superheroines-or-villains-could-plausibly-go-gay/187970/22 "2003-07-12T23:07:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by RangerDude \* > \*\*Hi, Mockingbird. > > Yes, I did read it from cover to cover, as I said in my earlier post that you quoted. > > Not everyone liked that book. But then again not everyone found it offensive. > > But that’s true in life about lots of things. \*\* I didn’t say everyone found it offensive. ---
**Author:** ![FairyDust](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ccd318/32.png) [@FairyDust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyDust)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2003, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-comic-superheros-superheroines-or-villains-could-plausibly-go-gay/187970/23 "2003-07-12T23:13:37Z")
Hi, all. Just wanted to say I liked the Rawhide Kid book and don’t know what all the fuss and uproar was about. Anyway, [Entertainment Weekly](http://www.marvel.com/news/?page=all&article_id=118) gave the Rawhide Kid an A rating. ---
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2003, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-comic-superheros-superheroines-or-villains-could-plausibly-go-gay/187970/24 "2003-07-12T23:25:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Otto \* > \*\*[Here’s](http://www.gayleague.com/gay/characters/index.php) a pretty good list of the known queer characters across the various companies. \*\* Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. I’m dumbstruck. It’s one thing for some fringe comic book publisher have gay character’s but Marvel and DC? I read some of those histories but does anyone have the actual dialogue where they officially came out? I can just imagine. If anyone knows the dialogue of the first outing do post. Was it like an ABC Afterschool Special type thing? A “very special” issue? Police Commissioner: Thanks to you he’ll be going to prison for a long time Truckstop Boy. Truckstop Boy: Prison’s not so bad Chief, noootttt sooooo badddddd. ---
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2003, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-comic-superheros-superheroines-or-villains-could-plausibly-go-gay/187970/25 "2003-07-12T23:28:22Z")
From that site: "Throughout the series, Off-Ramp had continually expressed how much he admired his leader Hard Drive " ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2003, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-comic-superheros-superheroines-or-villains-could-plausibly-go-gay/187970/26 "2003-07-12T23:28:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by El Elvis Rojo \* > \*\*As for the list you provided, **Otto** , I’m not so sure about some of them. I mean, Destiny and Mistique, to my knowledge, weren’t lovers, they lived in a mother/daughter relationship. I haven’t really read an “real world” X-Men book in a while, so they could have come out, but to my knowledge, that’s a stretch. And who did **Black Cat** date? Again, to my knowledge, she’s always been a fan of the Spider-Man. \*\* It’s not my list. The site provides the information upon which it bases its conclusions. For the Black Cat: > [@](#): > > By about fourteen years in the future (or on a present-day alternate Earth where time has proceeded differently and everyone is thus some fourteen years older than on Marvel-Earth, accounts vary)…she fell in love with Diana, formerly a contract operative for her agency…As of the timeframe of “Spider-Girl,” Felicia and Diana have known each other for nearly six years, although it is not known how long their relationship has been a romantic one. and for Destiny and Mystique: > [@](#): > > Despite an unseemly amount of sidestepping around the matter, there is virtually no doubt that Mystique and Destiny were lovers; the two are seen dancing romantically in Marvel Fanfare #40 (with Mystique, suggestively, in the form of a man of about the same physical age as Destiny), and on one occasion the ancient power known as the Shadow King refers to Destiny as Mystique’s “leman,” an archaic term for “lover”. The word’s antiquity is probably what enabled writer Chris Claremont to slip it in. Mystique’s mourning for Destiny bears far more similarity to that for the loss of a mate than that of even the closest friend, and both women raised Rogue, formerly of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants and now a veteran X-Man, from childhood as loving parents…The two were spouses; that is how Chris Claremont created them; don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2003, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-comic-superheros-superheroines-or-villains-could-plausibly-go-gay/187970/27 "2003-07-12T23:38:39Z")
Didn’t Marvel later retcon Northstar so he’s no longer “gay”? Some silly story about how he and his sister Aurora were actually “faeries” :rolleyes: from another dimension, and their prolonged absence was making him sick, giving him AIDS-like symptoms? Or did they retcon the retcon and say he’s gay again? ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2003, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-comic-superheros-superheroines-or-villains-could-plausibly-go-gay/187970/28 "2003-07-13T00:21:41Z")
**rjung** Northstar’s coming out speech was in issue 107. The whole faerie/elf thing was done running up to issue 50 and was revealed to be a total lie told by Loki. There’s some priceless scene of Northstar sitting around in the elf dimension bored out of his head… **KidCharlemagne** > [@](#): > > If anyone knows the dialogue of the first outing do post. As I mentioned, Northstar came out in issue 107 of Alpha Flight. It wasn’t any sort of oversized Very Special Issue but it was written up widely in the mainstream press because it was the first time an established “headliner” hero in a mainstream book had come out. Extrano actually pre-dated Northstar’s coming out but Extrano was presented as gay (and flaming) from the outset. The dialogue was something like “You don’t have to tell me what it means to be an outsider. Although I have chosen not to make an issue of my private life, the fact is that I am gay.” The Pied Piper in Flash was IMHO the best coming out I’ve seen (although I have to admit I haven’t read many of the stories listed at my link). He and Flash were chatting about something and the topic of The Joker came up. Flash (Wally West) said something like “I always heard he was gay.” Piper said “He’s not gay. I’m gay, and he’s never at the meetings.” Since Wally’s persona at the time was that of a fairly immature twerp, his acknowledgement and acceptance of Piper’s sexuality without a lot of drama (although it did take the remainder of the issue) really worked well for me. ---
**Author:** ![Nichol\_storm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Nichol\_storm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nichol_storm)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2003, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-comic-superheros-superheroines-or-villains-could-plausibly-go-gay/187970/29 "2003-07-13T04:06:22Z")
Gambit of the X-Men once smooched his buddy Courier (Jacob Gavin, Jr.), a shapeshifter who was in female form at the time. Yes, Remy knew who it was. Does that count? Also Dr. Henry Jekyll from League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. In the recent series, his alter-ego Hyde claims that he was experimenting with the transformative serum in an attempt to “cure” his homosexuality (remember this is Victorian-era England, there was no gay pride movement). Anyway, it didn’t work and he ended up as Mr. Edward Hyde instead. In a recent issue of the series, Mr. Hyde… … discovers his teammate, Hawley Griffin (the Invisible Man) has sold out the League to their enemies. Hyde captures Griffin and violently rapes him to death. :eek: Ewww. I doubt somehow that this scene will be included in a sequel to the LXG movie. ---
**Author:** ![kira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c4cdca/32.png) [@kira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kira)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2003, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-comic-superheros-superheroines-or-villains-could-plausibly-go-gay/187970/30 "2003-07-13T04:56:07Z")
Hello, all, Was it the intentions of the writers of these superheros to be gay? Is not this interpretation of their orientations a rather mondern concepet? I bet long ago writers did not intend nor dare to have a super hero gay. Kira ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2003, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-comic-superheros-superheroines-or-villains-could-plausibly-go-gay/187970/31 "2003-07-13T05:16:27Z")
Modern? We’re not talking about stuff written in the 17th century, here. Superhero comics aren’t any older than the 1920s or so, and most of the ones being talked about here come from the '70s or later. ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2003, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-comic-superheros-superheroines-or-villains-could-plausibly-go-gay/187970/32 "2003-07-13T05:21:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by FairyDust \* > \*\*Hi, all. Just wanted to say I liked the Rawhide Kid book and don’t know what all the fuss and uproar was about. > > Anyway, [Entertainment Weekly](http://www.marvel.com/news/?page=all&article_id=118) gave the Rawhide Kid an A rating. \*\* And we all know that Entertainment Weekly is quite the arbiter of taste. ---
**Author:** ![Alcibiades](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/cab0a1/32.png) [@Alcibiades](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alcibiades)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2003, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-comic-superheros-superheroines-or-villains-could-plausibly-go-gay/187970/33 "2003-07-13T05:34:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Krokodil \* > \*\*The Human Torch. He hasn’t been in a believable heterosexual relationship yet and strikes me as a bit of a misogynist (the “chippie” comment in _Secret Wars_, the manhandling of a female fan in _Fantastic Four 1234_, the sham marriage to a sham Alicia, etc.). I could see him rediscovering his sensitive side at a Judy Garland retrospective. > > \*\* So that’s what he means by “Flame on.” ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2003, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-comic-superheros-superheroines-or-villains-could-plausibly-go-gay/187970/34 "2003-07-13T05:48:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mockingbird \* > \*\*And we all know that Entertainment Weekly is quite the arbiter of taste. \*\* True enough, but as cites go, it’s still a wee bit better than “some dudes at a comic store.” ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2003, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-comic-superheros-superheroines-or-villains-could-plausibly-go-gay/187970/35 "2003-07-13T07:52:12Z")
Well, if it’s any help, the character **Sunfire** from Marvel’s “Exiles” is a lesbian, even according to Marvel’s official companion-literature. In fact, I browsed through an issue at a bookstore newstand where one of her teammates was commenting on the demise of one of Sunfire’s alternate-universe analogues. The teammate said something like, “Look, that might have been a _version_ of you who died, but it wasn’t _you!_ That other Sunfire had a different life, different experiences…” At which point another teammate (Morph?) chimed in with; “Yeah…maybe she was even straight!” It seemed a clear-enough statement. Ranchoth (And, in all fairness, he was _trying_ to be comforting.) ---
**Author:** ![FairyDust](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ccd318/32.png) [@FairyDust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyDust)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2003, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-comic-superheros-superheroines-or-villains-could-plausibly-go-gay/187970/36 "2003-07-13T15:40:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Miller \* > \*\*True enough, but as cites go, it’s still a wee bit better than “some dudes at a comic store.” \*\* 😃 Thanks, **Miller**. Well, if some of you don’t put much stock in reviews that are published in Entertainment Weekly (which only has 1.5+ million readers), how do you feel about [the Wellred Press - a comics and entertainment resource](http://wellredpress.com/Comics/Comics%20-%20Reviews/Feb%2003%20Reviews/rawhidekid_one.htm)? ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2003, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-comic-superheros-superheroines-or-villains-could-plausibly-go-gay/187970/37 "2003-07-13T16:02:34Z")
Back awhile in the Teen Titans, didn’t Starfire and Wonder Girl (Donna Troy) have a weekend together where it was hinted that “love” was among the recreational activities? ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2003, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-comic-superheros-superheroines-or-villains-could-plausibly-go-gay/187970/38 "2003-07-13T16:16:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mockingbird \* > \*\*And we all know that Entertainment Weekly is quite the arbiter of taste. \*\* Actually yes. I was under the impression that EW reviews were generally considered to be fairly influential in both the industry and among other reviewers and were among the major review sources that studios and actors pay serious atention to. ---
**Author:** ![RangerDude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9e8a1a/32.png) [@RangerDude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RangerDude)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2003, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-comic-superheros-superheroines-or-villains-could-plausibly-go-gay/187970/39 "2003-07-13T17:01:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by astro \* > \*\*Actually yes. I was under the impression that EW reviews were generally considered to be fairly influential in both the industry and among other reviewers and were among the major review sources that studios and actors pay serious atention to. \*\* You could be right. I found [this article about EW](http://www.boxoff.com/scripts/newsviewstory.asp?ID=4827). Here’s an excerpt: > [@](#): > > Entertainment Weekly, a winner of four National Magazine Awards (two for General Excellence, one for Design and one for Special Interest) is America’s leading consumer magazine of entertainment and popular culture. The magazine is a wholly owned subsidiary of Time Inc., and has a guaranteed circulation rate base of 1.6 million reaching an audience of 9.5 million readers. ---
**Author:** ![kira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c4cdca/32.png) [@kira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kira)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2003, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-comic-superheros-superheroines-or-villains-could-plausibly-go-gay/187970/40 "2003-07-13T17:07:17Z")
Hello, Miller, Sorry for the misinterpritation. Thanks for your answer. Kira [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-comic-superheros-superheroines-or-villains-could-plausibly-go-gay/187970.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-comic-superheros-superheroines-or-villains-could-plausibly-go-gay/187970.md?page=3)