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10 Totally Gay Superheros
In celebration of Comic-Con happening this week in San Diego, Gay.net compiled a list of 10 superheroes who’ve each left a unique stamp on the world of tights and flights as openly gay characters. This is by no means an exhaustive list, but each character here has made a significant contribution to furthering the inclusion of LGBT characters in comics, and each one is totally 100% gay.

Batwoman DC Comics originally introduced Batwoman in 1956 to dissuade rumors that Batman and Robin were gay lovers (get the whole story here). Ironically, when she was reintroduced in 2006 it was Batwoman who ended up swinging out of the closet and into the spotlight. As the most prominent gay character in mainstream comics today, Batwoman has broken a lot of barriers. She’s also taken on many issues relevant to gays and lesbians—such as bullying and the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy—in the short time she’s been a member of the modern Bat-Family. She’s also been romantically linked to Renee Montoya, (a.k.a. the Question), since her introduction. Batwoman #1 will launch in September of this year, making her the first openly gay character to star in a solo series from a mainstream publisher.

The Question (Renee Montoya) Renee Montoya was originally created to be a reoccurring character on Batman: The Animated Series, but she was also introduced into Batman’s comic book world shortly before the first episode aired in 1992. An officer on the Gotham City Police force, Renee was a mainstay in both the animated and comic book versions of Gotham city for several years, but it wasn’t until her inclusion in the short-lived comic book series Gotham Central that she became a fully developed character. It was there that Renee was outed as a lesbian and eventually quit the force due to corruption. Shortly thereafter, she met Vic Sage, (the original super hero known as The Question), who helped Renee refocus her life. When Sage died from lung cancer, Renee took on the guise of The Question to carry on Sage’s legacy.

Midnighter and Apollo What if Batman and Superman were lovers? Though not directly stated, Midnighter and Apollo’s relationship has often been viewed as an attempt to answer that exact question as the two have more than a passing resemblance to the Man of Steel and the Dark Knight. Best known as team members of The Authority—a comic published by the former DC imprint, Wildstorm Comics—Midnighter and Apollo have the distinction of being one of the first gay male couples in mainstream comics. Since their introduction, Apollo and Midnighter’s relationship has been embraced and explored by several writers. The two eventually married (a first for gay couples in comics) and even adopted a baby girl. With Wildstorm Comics no longer in print, DC has incorporated Apollo and Midnighter into the company’s primary universe. Now the two will star in the upcoming comic book series Stormwatch, due in September.

Northstar Northstar was the first superhero from a mainstream comics publisher to actually say the words, “I am gay.” It happened in Marvel Comic’s Alpha Flight #106. Published in 1992, Northstar’s coming out generated a huge amount of publicity, and though Alpha Flight was not a popular series the issue sold out. However, fear of backlash over their new homo-hero caused Marvel to back off, and Northstar’s sexuality was largely ignored for many years. After Alpha Flight was cancelled, Northstar eventually joined the X-Men—a group of heroes who are hated and feared by society for the way they were born, a premise that’s often considered to be a gay metaphor. As a member of Xavier’s merry mutants, writers have embraced Northstar’s man-on-man tendencies, allowing him to explore relationships, LGBT themes and even act as a mentor to another young gay mutant named Anole.

Anole Making his debut as a supporting character in New Mutants #2 Vol.2, this young X-Man almost had a very different superhero career from the one he enjoys today. At one point, writers planned to have Anole commit suicide after he came out to un-supportive friends and family. While the story was intended to spotlight the harmful effects of intolerance, Marvel decided against it and chose to let the character survive. Today, Anole has become a fan favorite among readers of Marvel’s X-Men comics.

Karma Karma is one of the founding members of Marvel’s original New Mutants, an X-men spinoff series. She was also one of the first out lesbian characters in mainstream comics. Karma’s inclusion in this list is signigicant because, as a Vietnamese woman, she is also one of the very few gay minority characters in comics as well. She has been both a student and teacher at Xavier’s School for the Gifted where, in addition to Northstar, she also mentored the young gay mutant Anole.

Hulkling and Wiccan Marvel Comics got its first gay teen couple in the pages of Young Avengers. The series was written by openly gay writer Allan Heinberg and received a GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Comic Book in 2006. Hulkling and Wiccan not only broke new ground in comics as an openly gay teenage couple, but also because they were open with the general public about their sexuality as well. During the series, the two come out to the public in an interview saying, “Why should Northstar have all the fun?”

The Rawhide Kid The Rawhide Kid made his first appearance in 1955 and starred in his own series published by Atlas Comics—the company that would eventually evolve into Marvel Comics. The Rawhide kid was updated several times over the years, but remained one of Marvel’s most prolific Western heroes. Then in a 2003 miniseries entitled The Rawhide Kid: Slap Leather, the kid moseyed on out of the closet and into a whirlwind of controversy. Although each issue carried a “Parental Advisory Explicit Content” warning label on its cover, no explicit content was actually in the book. Instead the character’s sexuality was mostly referenced though innuendo and his effeminate mannerisms. Criticized by the LGBT community for the use of gay stereotypes, The Rawhide Kid: Slap Leather has been dismissed as an epic failure by most gay comic book fans. However, the series is an interesting footnote for its view of the Western genre through a queer lens—giving us a gay cowboy several years before director Ang Lee’s trip to Brokeback Mountain.

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