Alpha Flight's Northstar, a member of the original Alpha Flight superhero team, was the first major gay character created by Marvel Comics. Creator John Byrne said that Northstar was planned to be gay from his inception in 1979.
As the first major, openly gay character created by Marvel Comics, Northstar generated significant publicity in the mainstream press, and Alpha Flight #106 sold out in a week, although the series was not a very popular title. It is the only comic book issue to have been inducted into the Gaylactic Hall of Fame.
The Marvel comics, to the contrary, offer fans a diverse range of LGBTQ+ characters, and have for decades. Arguably, the first gay character in the comics is Arnie Roth, who first appeared in a Captain America comic (#268) in 1982. Arnie Roth is gay, Jewish, and best friends with Captain America.
Marvel's First Couple and the most enduring marriage on our list. As Mister Fantastic and Invisible Girl of the Fantastic Four, Reed and Sue have created more than a team together…they've also made a family!
While Vision and Wanda, Peter and MJ, and Tony and Pepper are some of the MCU's most adorable couples, the cutest of them all is certainly Steve Rogers and Peggy Carter.
In the DC Comics universe, Batwoman is an out lesbian, Catwoman has been presented as bisexual and antiheroes Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy have been portrayed as romantic partners.
Over the entirety of the MCU so far, these moments are disappointingly small, but it is still more than the DCEU has done. Despite the many LGBTQ+ characters in DC Comics, the DCEU remains overwhelmingly straight.
The key difference: Comic book Mar-Vell is a male while movie Mar-Vell is female. According to directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, the gender swap happened “very late” into development. “That was one of the epiphanies in the writing that came fairly late in the process,” Boden recently told Entertainment Weekly.
In a post-credit scene, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 introduces a major lesbian character from the comics into the MCU: Phyla-Vell. Throughout the movie, you see glimpses of a young girl with white hair who was created by the movie's villain the High Evolutionary.
Played by queer actress Tessa Thompson, Valkryrie was the first queer superhero in the MCU as confirmed by both Thompson and Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi.
Among DC Comics' current titles, there are several books featuring prominent LGBTQ+ characters. From Superman: Son of Kal-El to Harley Quinn and others, the DC universe continues to lead the way in heroic inclusion.
The Comics Bulletin website posed the question "Is Batman Gay?" to their staff and various comic book professionals. Writer Alan Grant has stated: "The Batman I wrote for 13 years isn't gay.
Binary in the books is just a sentient doppelganger energy form of Carol Danvers created after she was evolved into the Binary state by the Brood. So, she possesses the same powers as Captain Marvel in her Binary Form. So, while glowing, the doppelganger Binary also possesses these abilities.
In the comics from which the movie is adapted, Deadpool is pansexual – he makes no distinction between genders or gender identity in his choice of partners.
In comic books, Loki's genderfluidity has been explored recently in Loki: Agent of Asgard, where he (in this comic Loki's pronouns change along with his gender presentation, shifting between he/him and she/her) often changes from being the God of Lies to the Goddess of Stories, becoming Lady Loki whenever she feels ...
In Norse mythology, and in the Marvel comic books, Loki has always been gender fluid, capable of changing genders at anytime for any reason. But before the show, the MCU version of Loki had always been male-presenting.
leaving the page. There have been some pretty notable superhero firsts in recent years. Here's another good one: In this weekend's animated sequel Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Issa Rae's Spider-Woman, aka Jessica Drew, is the first pregnant superhero to hit the big screen in a major comic book movie.
Fantomah transforming. From Jungle Comics #15 (March 1941), art by Fletcher Hanks. The character preceded Wonder Woman's first appearance, and has been claimed to be the first female superhero in comic books (although the Centaur Comics superheroine, "Magician from Mars", predates Fantomah by two months).
Lana Lang was the first love interest to truly appear in Clark's life. The character did appear in the early days but her impact on Clark has been retconned to be more significant, especially thanks to the character's appearance in Smallville.
Loki's gender fluidity is made MCU canon in new Disney+ series, Loki. Up until recently, it was unknown what Marvel's Loki's gender identity is. Staying true to the Marvel comics, it was just confirmed by the new Loki show on Disney+ that he is gender-fluid.
