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amageish · 1 year ago

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Thinking way too hard about the queer possibilities of X-Men ‘97

When X-Men ‘97 was first announced, I’ll admit I was kind of ambivelent to the entire project... It felt very nostalgia-focused and was just less interesting to me then an all-new X-Men cartoon that could do its own thing without being burdened with established canon...

...and then I listened to the X-Men 60 Uncanny Years event earlier this year and hearing the executive producer of the series discuss what the X-Men meant to him as a kid as a gay black man in Florida basically changed my mind about the entire project. Now I’m excited for it!

The X-Men are so fucking queer. Even ignoring the ways that the mutant metaphor have been used to discuss queer issues before queer issues could be discussed textually, Marvel’s merry mutants just have... so many queer members and even more when you expand the list to include sub-textual and intended queerness.

So, with all that in mind, I did a little thinking and decided to take some guesses about who could make for queer representation in '97... Let’s dive in!

Part One: The Comic Canon Gays

Let’s start with the characters who are explicitly no-subtext-required queer in the comic books themselves. These are a few of the characters Marvel uses in Pride events and generally parades around every June.

Northstar

Jean-Paul Beaubier may seem like the vanilla ice cream of this rainbow sundae, but there’s far more going on with this character then the “Marvel’s first explicitly gay superhero” title that he is so often boiled down to. A French-Canadian superstar athlete, he’s lived never being entirely sure if his skiing career success was a result of his talent or his mutant abilities.

While his depiction in X-Men The Animated Series just had him be painfully French-Canadian with an on-the-nose accent and French exclamations, there’s a mean catty gay under the surface that is just waiting to be unleashed. They could also adapt his famous wedding arc, wherein he married his husband Kyle Jinadu...

Also he hates cops, so y’know... Maybe Marvel did nail the queer experience on their first try?

Iceman

Bobby Drake is arguably the most famous queer character at Marvel. A member of the original five X-Men, he was famously confirmed as gay when his teenage self was transported to the present and, with some unsolicited help from a teenage Jean Grey, questioned why his older self remaining closeted, even in a world that was (comparatively at least) accepting of queer desire.

In the original show, he showed unrequited interest in Polaris, as he had in the comics before his coming-out. This reboot could potentially give a more grounded and less fantastical take on coming-out then what he had in the comics... or maybe time travel will be involved again - who knows really!

Prodigy

David Allyene, aka Prodigy, is one of the most notable bi men at Marvel with one of the most distinctive coming-out stories. His mutant powers cause him to instantly learn things that other people know, hence the name Prodigy, and, through his powers, he also learned his own sexuality. How’s that for a crazy journey of self-discovery.

Prodigy is a newer character who did not appear in the original animated series at all, so there’s no continuity concerns there...

Mystique and Destiny

Destiny, also known as Irene Adler, met her lover Mystique when he was presenting as male and operating as a consulting detective in Victorian London.

Yeah uh. This is implying what you think it is.

The two of them have been lovers for centuries now, though both took other partners at different points during their relationship. Their love is something special though and together they raised Rogue as a child - as well as maybe sired Nightcrawler together? That was once intended to be Nightcrawler’s origin, but it was famously scrapped due to Marvel editorial not wanting to depict a child that is a product of a queer relationship at the time... but now this November a new comic will explore the “true” origin of Nightcrawler, so maybe Mystique/Destiny having a biological child is back on the table!

Mystique was, of course, in the original series. I’m not sure the actual odds of her relationship with Irene being acknowledged in ‘97 - partially just because I imagine Marvel would be concerned about backlash to queer villains... but also they’re adorable and good to me so I’d like them!

Captain Britain and Askani

Betsy Braddock and Rachel Summers are two incredibly complicated characters to summarize. Rachel is the time-displaced daughter of Scott and Jean from a hypothetical alternate feature, while Betsy Braddock spent like 30 years of her publication history trapped in the body of Kwannon, a Japanese assassin. While these two characters are some of Marvel’s most actively in-your-face unquestionably queer characters - the last Betsy story had a surprising amount of implied sex for only five issues - they’ve never really had a chance to shine in a multimedia way (well, at least not with Betsy in her own body and not being merged with Kwannon).

In the original show, Rachel cameoed briefly as a prisoner of Apocalypse while Pyslocke appeared without being named - assumedly they didn’t want to bother explaining the body-swap storyline. Personally, if they were to be in the show, I’d suggest that Betsy should be introduced as having inherited her brother’s title of Captain Britain, with Pyslocke of the original show being revealed to have been Kwannon in her own body all along...

Part Two: The New Mutants

There’s so many queer New Mutants that I’m just giving them their own category here... plus, with Sunspot being in the main cast, I wouldn’t be surprised if the rest of the time got (Sun)spotlighted as well!

Note that the sapphics of the first generation of New Mutants can also be mixed and matched when it comes to shipping. I present them based on the pairings that are currently canon/teased in the present comics, but Dani/Xuan, Xuan/Kitty, Kitty/Rahcel, etc. are all valid too and could be within the cards for the show.

Karma & Galura

The first explicit lesbian of the X-Men line, Xuân Cao Mạnh is a refugee of the Vietnam Boat Crisis, a thing which makes no sense when you consider that she is still canonically like 20-something years old in 2023. Her coming-out was a much lower-key affair then Jean-Paul’s, with her friends just casually running into her at the Exploding Person festival (i.e., Burning Man) with a shaved pink haircut and already travelling with her two “girlfriends”.

After the musical festival, she proceeded to fall in love with her roommate Kitty Pryde and then her co-worker Dani Moonstar, both of which were never (textually) requited. Recently, she’s started dating the winged mutant Galura and finally gotten to do stuff like “kiss a woman on-panel regularly” after two decades of being a lesbian denied a girlfriend...

She has cameoed in X-Men ‘92-related media with a design that is truly terrible IMO, but I think she could be rebooted and appear in this series in her full glory... especially after the New Mutants movie left her out entirely!

Mirage and Wolfsbane

Introduced in the original New Mutants run, Dani Moonstar and Rahne Sinclair share a unique telepathic connection, helpfully described as them being “soul-mates.” The Comic Book Code prohibited depictions of queer people, but uh. This first run is incredibly not subtle, even as Rahne nominally has interest her male teammate Cannonball.

Unfortunately, post-Claremont, their relationship was more or less abandoned for a few decades (coinciding with a massive downward spiral in Rahne content in general) climaxing with Rahne being killed off entirely in an allegory for transphobic violence... Thankfully, she recovered from her death and has recently been written by a non-binary author and now a trans author, both of whom have leaned back into the idea that these “soul-mates” may, in fact, have romantic feelings for each other.

Oh, also they were explicitly gay in the movie. So. Good for them for that!

Magik and Shadowkat

Another classic pair of X-Men “roommates,” Illyana Rasputina and Kate Pryde are another Claremont-created “soul-mate” duo - albeit without the telepathic bond. After decades of queer-coding, both were able to do queer-adjacent things explicitly for the first time in the Krakoa era, with Illyana asking a group of people of various gender presentations to make out with her and Kate kissing a tattoo artist who looks suspiciously like her bestie on-panel.

Pryde famously lost the spot of “Teen X-Men PoV character” to Jubilee in the show, but maybe X-Men ‘97 could give her a second chance... plus Illyana is one of the most popular X-Men characters not given a full spotlight in the original show, in spite of her more or less being an A-list X-Men in 2023. I don’t know if Marvel is brave enough to make this one canon, but I do think these two are two of the most obviously missing characters from the ‘97 line-up.

Escapade

Shela Sexton, aka Escapade, is a transgender sapphic who debuted in Marvel Pride last year and has since then had a starring role in the most recent New Mutants series. She has the incredibly unique power of the ability to “steal” things from people - including everything from stealing physical objects like their wallet to stealing abstract concepts like their emotional or physical state. Her character also generally has embodied the intersectional approach to mutant identity which has become more and more prevalent in the modern era - her mutant identity and trans identity are both important to her character, but neither are allegories for the other.

I think she’s probably too new to be added to the X-Men ‘97 cast pragmatically, but maybe they could have snuck in a cameo at the last minute? Idk. I figured I’d include her on the list.

Part Three: Let’s Get Wild!

Okay. Fuck it. Let’s talk about some comic book justifications that could be used to queer up the actual main cast from the original classic X-Men The Animated Series.

Jubilee

Jubilation Lee, the teen PoV lead of the X-Men, has been written as queer a handful of times, but never explicitly in 616. Most notably, she was gay in an AU Runaways story (written by N.D. Stevenson), where she dated a bisexual version of Pixie as well as an ice-powered sapphic named Frostbite. Monet also had a crush on her in the X-Men ‘92 animation-inspired comic book series. In terms of 616 content, her relationship with Laura Kinney has often been read in a sapphic way, especially in Liu’s X-23 series where Laura notably breaks up with her boyfriend only for Jubilee to be waiting back at her apartment to go out with her.

Storm

Ororo Munroe, aka Storm, famously has had a subtextual Sapphic fling with the bundle of chaos that is Yukio. They two met for the first time when Ororo went to Japan and their time together was almost immediately followed by her famous punk Storm era, which is very queer when you consider that context. Yukio was also later made explicitly queer in Fox’s Deadpool 2 movie, though the movie character doesn’t share much of the personality and thrill-seeking antics of her comic book counterpart...

Storm is the central protagonist of the original Claremont Uncanny X-Men and will be central to the ‘97 series as well. It’d be really bold to confirm her as queer, but I’d say this is the kind of move that would be worth it if they want this to stand out among X-Men adaptations.

Wolverine, Phoenix, and Cyclops

Finally, Jean Grey, Scott Summers, and Logan were implied to have been in a poly relationship throughout most of the Krakoa era - though they have fallen on hard times recently in the run-up to Fall of X.

I’ll be blunt: I don’t think there’s a chance in hell that Marvel corporate would approve this being textual... but I’m willing to be proven wrong, I guess!

WHEW. Okay. That’s my list. This is nowhere near definitive of course - I didn’t discuss Shatterstar’s bisexuality, Deadpool’s pansexuality, Gwenpool’s aroace identity, et al - but also basically every X-Men character is either textually queer or could be justified as being queer based on comic book lore. This entire brand has a queer poly energy that even the straightest writers weren’t able to fully shake off of it... so, while this is my list, they could really do anything they wanted (and that Mickey Mouse lets them do, at least)... We’ll see what happens!

[PS: In light of the strike and the general shitty way that megacorporations in entertainment have been treating their workers for years now, I’d be remissed if I made this post and didn’t encourage people to consider donating to the Entertainment Community Fund as well!]

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ch4tk4t · 5 months ago

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Pride month is already over...(1/2)

I posted a LGBTQ+ superhero comics character every day to my Threads account

Enjoy this recap of every single one. Take care y'all 💙🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈💙

These are (sort of) in chronological order.

Today's LGBTQ+ superhero comics character: America Chavez .

Needs: A good on-going series, the MCU not f*cking up her backstory as bad as the comics did.

Qualifactions: Super DUPER f*cking gay (was born in a Sapphic paradise, f*ck the f*cking retcon in it's *sshole)

🏳️‍🌈

Today's LGBTQ+ superhero comics character: Jean-Paul Beaubier, Aka Northstar

Needs: his own x-team (with or without his awesome sister) of which, of course, he would be the leader because, well, duh.

Qualifications: Snarky prideful gay dude💅 (his wit is LEGENDARY)

🏳️‍🌈

Today's LGBTQ+ superhero comics character, Aldrif Angela Odinsdottir.

Needs a movie/more comics respresentation/possibly a cooler costume (Love the helmet though)

Qualifactions: Super duper gay.

🏳️‍🌈

Today's LGBTQ+ superhero comics character: David Alleyne aka Prodigy

Needs: His version of young Avengers to come back, for good. And he should hook up with Marvel Boy, just sayin'.

Qualifications: Baby bi boi 🩵

🏳️‍🌈

Today's LGBTQ+ superhero comics character: Gwendolyn Poole, Aka Gwenpool

Needs: For people to start buying her comics, so Marvel understands she's a WAY better character than Deadpool. I said what I f*cking said.

Qualifications: Aroace gurl 🩵

🏳️‍🌈

Today's LGBTQ+ superhero comics character: Nico Minoru aka Sister Grimm (although I struggle to remember when exactly she used that alias 🤷🏽‍♀️)

Needs: Nothing. She's perfect. I'll fight you if you say otherwise.

Qualifications: Buh-buh-buh-Baby biiiii bye byeeeeee... Ahem. Bi. She's bi.

🏳️‍🌈

Today's LGBTQ+ superhero comics character: Noh-Varr aka Marvel Boy

Needs: More comics with him in it wtf? I get writing for him after the great Grant Morrison can be intimidating, but come on !

Qualifications: Bi alien guy.

🏳️‍🌈

Today's LGBTQ+ superhero comics character: James Howlett, aka Logan, aka Wolverine (the least cool one imo but hey 🤷🏽‍♀️)

Needs: Marvel to grow a f*cking spine already. For real. Like yesterday.

Qualifications: Bi and polyamorous. That's right. I went there. Deal. With. It. Do you think Jean had connecting doors to both Scott AND Logan's room for what ? BINGO NIGHT ? WAKE/GROW UP PEOPLE !

🏳️‍🌈

Today's LGBTQ+ superhero comics character: Raven Darkholme aka Mystique aka Sherlock Holmes (not joking) aka my blue mom

Needs: NOTHING. Perfection doesn't even BEGIN to describe it.

Qualifications: I still struggle with the concept of a Bi lesbian, but I'm thinking she fits the "label" PERFECTLY 💙

🏳️‍🌈

Today's LGBTQ+ superhero comics character: Charlene McGowan

Needs: Nothing. She was written perfectly. The fact she's trans is addressed ONCE, because it's PLOT RELEVENT, SHE'S THE ONE WHO ADRESSES IT, saves the day thanks to her experience as a trans woman, then she goes on with her f*cking life. Queen 💅

Qualifications: Badass trans scientist. Read. Immortal. Hulk.

🏳️‍🌈

Today's LGBTQ+ superhero comics character: Shela Sexton aka Escapade

Needs: More comics. I love seeing her in every year's pride comics, but we don't stop existing after pride y'all.

Qualifications: Trans nerd with socializing issues, it's like she was written for me

🏳️‍🌈

Today's LGBTQ+ superhero comics character: Eloïse Phimister aka Ellie aka Negasonic Teenage Warhead

Needs: For Marvel to actually DO something with her character, like wtf was the point in bringing her back from the dead, rebooting her then NEVER F*CKING USING HER?

Qualifications: Badass angry dyke 💙.

🏳️‍🌈

Today's LGBTQ+ superhero comics character: Vivian Vision aka Viv aka... Vivid... Vessel? (wait, what ?)

Needs: MORE CHAMPIONS PLEASE.

Qualifications: Lesbian android girl

🏳️‍🌈

Today's LGBTQ+ superhero comics character: Bobby Drake aka Iceman (Ice ice baby)

Needs: Another case of a character being perfect. Nothing to see here. Kindly move along. I'd hug him. Even in his ice form.

Qualifications: Gay as f*ck.

🏳️‍🌈

Today's LGBTQ+ superhero comics character: Julio Richter aka Rictor aka Druid

Needs: For artists to stop drawing him so light skinned. Other than that, no comment (if any writer dares TOUCH his relationship with star again, I WILL bite them though)

Qualifications: Gay warlock. The best kind.

🏳️‍🌈

Today's LGBTQ+ superhero comics character: Martha Johansson aka Cerebella and another alias I will not use as it's basically her deadname.

Needs: To be happy. Her origin is so dark, she deserves it.

Qualifications: Gay telepathic prodigy

🏳️‍🌈

Today's LGBTQ+ superhero comics character: Phylla Vell aka Captain Marvel (one of the many) aka Martyr aka Qasar

Needs: To survive her use in the MCU. I still have nightmares of what happened to Kamala.

Qualifications: Gay inter dimensional alien

🏳️‍🌈

Today's LGBTQ+ superhero comics character: Teddy Altman aka motherf*cking Emperor Dorrek-Vell (I added the mothef*cking)

Needs: Why exactly don't I have a ongoing about him and his husband ruling over the empire already? Like wtf Marvel.

Qualifications: Buff gay alien boi

🏳️‍🌈

Today's LGBTQ+ superhero comics character: William Kaplan aka Billy aka Wiccan

Needs: I won't repeat what I addressed on his husband's presentation. Nothing else to add.

Qualifications: Romani magician gay boi

🏳️‍🌈

Today's LGBTQ+ superhero comics character: Xuan Cao Manh aka Karma

Needs: Nothing. The fact she speaks French makes me like her that much more. Just in case being a badass Vietnamese mutant telepath with a cyberleg didn't already sell me 🤷🏽‍♀️

Qualifications: Badass mutie lesbian.

🏳️‍🌈

Today's LGBTQ+ superhero comics character: Kitty Pryde aka Shadowkat aka Ariel aka too many to remember

Needs: A female love interest she doesn't sexually assaults, like wtf Marvel, who okayed this?

Qualifications: Bi Jewish techie with a heart of gold.

🏳️‍🌈

PART TWO- HERE

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