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Retroactively Gay
I grew up reading comic books, as did my husband. Marvel is the universe I wanted to grow up to live in. The revival of the Marvel universe on film and TV has been a treat! I think this is why, despite great differences in our origins, we can relate so well to each other. We are both living in some variation of the Marvel universe.
The hubby and I just recently finished watching the Daredevil series. After I got over the initial shock of a brunette Matt, we ended up enjoying it quite a bit. One cannot keep up the complaints about Charlie Cox for long, after all. And I am looking forward to the remaining three series to be launched on Netflix — and remaining mum on the specifics of Daredevil for those who have yet to watch.
Last evening, the hubby and I were looking though the YouTube on “Easter eggs in Daredevil” when he dropped the bombshell. “Did you hear Bobby Drake came out as gay?” Hmmmm. Et tu, Marvel?
No, no, I don’t live in a universe without homosexuality. One member of my immediate family stayed in the closet for decades before feeling comfortable to come out. I get it. It is a personal struggle, and each person gets to travel at the pace they choose. But I expected more from Marvel.
Bobby? Iceman? Could they not have introduced a new character? Could they not have picked someone more prominent? There is a lot of speculation on both sides on whether or not he “showed signs” of being gay during his 50+ year comic book life. I find it interesting. The poor kid got over being a mutant before he got over being gay. He is not one of the “main” main characters, but is not rare either. They had to pick someone in the Goldilocks zone I guess.
When the comic universes were being formed, there was a time when African-American heroes became a trend. That made sense to me. No one went back and “got color.” I suppose that would be hard to do. Female superheroes were never an issue — all comic book readers dig those. Characters on TV shows went from being male to female (Starbuck and Boomer in Battlestar Galactica). I don’t think the story changes much either way. And I don’t think Iceman being gay changes anything either. But it’s a shame that Marvel couldn’t launch a character that was gay from the start, Instead they had to make someone retroactively gay.
What, if any, opinions do you have on Bobby Drake coming out?
Published in Entertainment
I’m ambivalent on this. I’m an old X-Man fan, and Bobby has never really shown any sign of being gay, even when given opportunity – say amongst aforementioned member of Alpha Flight (not an X-Man), Northstar.
This is less of a cop-out than DC declaring one of the Green Lanterns gay. Seriously, in a universe of uncountable aliens with a sizeable quasi-police-organization, it’s likely there’s a gay member. It’s likely there’s sexual orientations in that group that defy human understanding.
This is Marvel and Bendis trying to score Social Brownie Points, not actually attempting what Frank Soto calls “writing.”
Side Question: Mutants being what they are, is it possible that mutant genetics can cause one such mutant to switch orientations at or against will?
Just as Wolverine is both an X-Man and an Avenger, Northstar has been an X-Man since 2001. He was the economics/business/French teacher at the Xavier school.
There’s even a storyline where he only agrees to be an X-Man on the condition that he’s not the “token gay” on the team.
(There also happens to be a storyline where he has a crush on Iceman. Coincidence?)
Bah. I refuse to accept Northstar. Logan was supposed to be the token Canadian.
I seem to remember a somewhat similar post awhile back, what was it called? Oh, yeah, “Destroying My Childhood Memories”, by yours truly. A female Thor? Cat Woman as bisexual? Trying to explain to your kids why the comics you remember bear no resemblance to today’s comics? Everyone remember when Lois Lane fell off a building, she always kept her legs together and was always wearing a skirt? She probably goes ‘commando’ under that skirt now! (Am I getting CoC’d now?)
Barda and Mr. Mircle stayed together…till she died. Though I guess shes back now with the reboot. They were always my favorite couple in terms loving married ones.
It appears that the Marvel Cinematic Universe is working the damage done in the Battle of NYC into the rest of the plotlines. There has been a degree of agreement among the various properties (Agents of SHIELD, Daredevil, Captain America TWS, Avengers) that I had not ever seen before.
I enjoy it. Maybe one of the Heroes could set up a GOFUNDME site to raise cash.
OK so that explains a lot of my anarcho-capitalist tendencies…
I’ve been married for 21 years. But I can see how a Universe full of Superheroes could be tempting…
Awww! (Me too!)
Really the biggest issue I have with these sort of retcons is that they always make me feel like the people in charge of these comics aren’t taking them seriously, and instead trying out some strange marketing ploy.
Fans want the characters they grew up with. For those of us who are now old (ie. not a teenagers) what we are looking for is a spark of that old nostalgia. Its fine if someone wants to reinvent a character for a new generation, but I also want to have my old character too the way I remember them. Is that so wrong?
Wait when did Sue and Reed get divorced? They are the like the quint essential married super heroes. They even have super hero kids!
Thanks to all those who took my questions about damage control and compensation in comic-book universes seriously. I was genuinely curious, having had so many friends and relatives who are pretty heavily into comics, but who could never explain that particular detail.
Then, I was once the little girl who worried that my friends’ dollhouses all seemed to be lacking toilets. There’d be a kitchen for sure, and then either no bathroom, or a bathroom without a toilet… How did that work?
Not one to let this problem go unsolved, I’d build little toilets for the dollhouses. Somehow, this never impressed anyone.
You are the Superhero for dollhouses then….
Deadpool is also Canadian.
In the Marvel Universe, Canada is a pretty sinister place. You think the NSA is bad? You haven’t seen Department H!!!
That’s DC Comics, you clod!
;-)
Oh come ON now. Ridiculous retcons have been the bread-and-butter of comic book universes since at least the 1950s when DC rebooted The Flash and Green Lantern!
Oh yeah, them.
I’ve never been an FF fan, so I often forget about that team.
Sue totally has the hots for Namor. I’d wager heavily she’s cheated on Reed.
Looking forward to the new FF movie too.
I have no issue with retcons in general, just these ones that are pitched as some sort of progressive landmark. I get the need to retcon the world when you write yourself into a silly whole.
I don’t know, the preview didn’t seem that exciting, and I couldn’t tell what it was about plot wise.
Geez, whoda thunk that “rotten fish smell” could be an aphrodisiac!
Not surprised about the Kevin Smith story. Smith seems fascinated with butt sex especially when he is weeded up.
Who doesn’t like the smell of the Ocean? Its so brisk and vitalizing.
They lost me when they showed Luke Cage getting some backdoor action from Spider Woman on a “superfriends with benefits” basis. Up to that point I might buy something based on a strong review. And that awful Image talent one year reboot of Avengers and whoever else. I stopped buying the mainline titles altogether there. And there was the Death of Superman and that ridiculous Brokeback Bruce Wayne/Bane thing. Give me a nice little Justice Society/All-Star Squadron issue with obscure heroes who could disappear or die at any moment. After all, they killed Bruce!!!
The Iron Man movies have been incredibly uneven but Junior assures I’ll at least look, and I thought the Ed Norton Banner rocked in that last Hulk movie but the new guy doesn’t suck.
When I take over writing X-Factor, it will turn out that Bobby Drake was kidnapped in the bathroom at Yankees Stadium by the Baseball Goblin and His Batters from Heck (R) and replaced by their naturally gender confused super-villain the Catcher.
Geez, I remember when this was a family site.
I’m not a fan of introducing politics into fiction. You can have homosexual relationships in fiction without being explicitly political, e.g. Sailor Moon, and to a certain extent Caprica. I think it damages the ability of characters to form deep, believable emotional relationships.
The government-funded robots aren’t evil. They are just doing what they are told by humans. We don’t have anything personally against mutants.
And who wouldn’t want to live in a world with this guy? This is first rate megalomania.
I don’t care as long as nothing is done to damage the artistic integrity of the best X-Man ever, Dazzler.
Anyone else think Retroactively Gay might be a good name for a band?