#kitty x rachel

[yalster54]

she needs to stop

[amageish]

Unpacking Kitty Pryde's Sexuality

Okay, I've done a couple posts like this before... Let's take on a big one, shall we?

In Maruaders #12, released in 2020, Kate "Kitty" Pryde kissed a woman.

This was reported on fairly widely as Kitty Pryde's coming-out moment. Many people across fandom and outside of it were celebrating the queerness of one Katherine Anne Pryde. After decades upon decades of queer-coding, it was official! Kitty Pryde is a bisexual woman! Let's all celebrate!

(I personally would not call queercoding "queerbaiting" when it was done at a time when sodomy laws were still being enforced in America, but whatever.)

And then... uh... nothing really changed?

Since then, she has returned to her usual status quo in terms of queerness and queer-coding. She has had plenty of cheeky moments, wink-nods towards her queer identity, but nothing as explicit as a kiss - and no explicitly romantic relationships of any kind.

Now, this headline-making kiss was, narratively, a foil to an earlier kiss - she got a tattoo and kissed her male tattoo artist, died, came back to life, and then got a new tattoo and kissed her female tattoo artist. The woman didn't really have a purpose in the story beyond tattooing Pryde, being kissed by her, and having a design which is strikingly similar to that of Magik, one of Pryde's gal pals... All that said, it wasn't exactly the type of thing that needed to be followed up on... but it is still odd that Pryde kissed a woman, was hailed as bisexual, and then Marvel corporate went silent on the matter.

For some backstory, Pryde has been queercoded more or less since her debut. She's had three roommate situationships which are widely discussed as her queer encounters, plus a handful of other ones - notably a period where she was manipulated by the seduction of Saturnyne.

One of these relationships, Pryde with Rachel Summers, was confirmed by Pryde's creator Chris Claremont via interview in 2016, which increased discussion of her potential queerness - though that discussion has been going on for a looooong time before then.

Now, personally, when I see queer subtext vanish suddenly, my assumption is typically that corporate got involved... which seemed more likely when she was teased as a potential new character in X-Men 97. Perhaps corporate doesn't want her to be queer in that show and so they don't want her to be queer in the comic books either. Corporations are weird like that sometimes.

HOWEVER. Everything is suddenly changing in June 2024? Four years after Kate Pryde smooched a tattoo artist, Marvel mobile games are suddenly really keen to remind us that Kate Pryde is, in fact, queer???

And look. This probably means nothing. It is likely that the marketing people who worked on these events had heard Pryde was queer and tossed her into their events... but it still feels notable to me!

With these mobile game promotions, the idea of Kate Pryde being a queer character is being put in more people's feeds and in more people's minds then ever before... While the kiss was viral, it was mostly viral in queer spaces (as well as the types of spaces vigilantly opposed to queerness in nerd culture media), while this is putting it in the hands of standard mobile game users... Plus it is using Marvel's marketing budget to promote them - Marvel isn't sponsoring posts to put screenshots of Pryde checking out Dazzler's ass in X-Terminators in people's feeds, but they are to let us know that we should log into Puzzle Quest to claim a gaudy outfit...

So I am happy to see this development happen... It does feel like a (however atypical) step forward and I hope it isn't too long before Pryde can get explicitly queer stories told about her on a regular basis... I mean, her name is Pryde, for crying out loud...

[sbd-laytall]

The comfort and care Kitty shows Rachel just warms my heart.

Excalibur (1988) #1

[smallblueandloud]

x-treme x-men (2022) #5

[badger-with-a-boa]

I swear Kitty & Rachel had a thing in Excalibur Vol.1

[absencesrepetees]

x-men by @thesaintart

[medixnoche]

it’s always sunny at the x-mansion (part 1)

[moraypink]

gay xmen sketches……

[yalster54]

ppl forget they gay as hell also

Rachel and old woman Kitty <3

[merry-mutants]

Kate Pryde – Excalibur Shadowcat Sam Johnstone

instagram.com/nightshift_sam

[yalster54]

I miss them being mentally ill together sm 😔

[franollie]

GOOD MORNING GREYPRYDE NATION

[rei-ismyname]

Nightcrawler's...pimp era?

Tell me that's not the stereotypical aesthetic that's being aped here. Real early 2000s Snoop Dogg vibes. Rachel is also looking steezy as hell, and I'm proud to say I spent a good five years rocking that look, but enough about me.

If this came out in 2008 that mug would have P.I.M.P JUICE, all caps in rhinestones on the front.

[sbd-laytall]

The way that Rachel goes absolutely feral when Kitty is being taken and manipulated. 🤌🤌🤌

Excalibur (1988) #13

[smallblueandloud]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: X-Men (Comicverse) Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Kitty Pryde/Rachel Summers, Kitty Pryde & Kurt Wagner Characters: Rachel Summers, Kitty Pryde Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Celebrity, Social Media, Twitter, Fluff and Humor, what if: charles xavier had been a hollywood producer instead, happy famous queer people roasting each other in public, rachel hates going viral but unfortunately her wife is very famous Summary:

ray (@dontaskani) wife quote of the day: “but like, are your parents actually married though?”

bobby (@iceman) ✅ replied: LMAOOOOOOOOOOO

Dani Moonstar (@daniellemoonstarofficial) ✅ replied: She raises a solid point

Mạnh Cao Xuân | ‘More, More’ S4 out now (@karmaofficial) ✅ replied: Honestly I’ve never seen a marriage certificate. Who’s to say

[emmafrostcovercollection]

Fall of the House of X #1 & Rise of the Powers of X #1 (2024) - Brooks Connecting Variant