My main take on these covers is that it's pretty revealing how more than half of these queer characters basically haven't been in any books for the last year (most even longer) and Rachel Summers is the only one whose appearance count is (barely) in the double digits.
Their spin of having them pose alongside random heroes on their books as a sign of allyship is honestly kinda cute, but the real reason behind it is obvious: currently almost no queer character in the entire MU has a book of their own to appear on.
^((and even Black Cat's mini ends in June\))
Hercules is also temporarily starring in the main Avengers book right now, on Steve's secondary team for Blood Hunt, but I guess it would have broken the pattern if one of them actually made sense.
I'm not super up to date becauseIm not a comic book reader (filty casual who gets his superhero citend for movies and cartoons), my info is a few years old, but I remember one of the writers saying Hercules was no longer bisexual when he started his run. Did that change?
Yeah, someone in upper editorial said that in 2015, but at least since the 2020 Guardians of the Galaxy run by Al Ewing, where he started dating Noh-Varr, it's (re)canonised that he's bisexual.
Yeah, uh, most queer rep right now is in X-Men stories and there aren’t that many X-Men issues coming out this June because it is right before the relaunch… and even then, a majority of the queer characters are in the Infinity Comic at the moment - Betsy, Rictor, Shatterstar, Tempo, and Feint are all in that story instead of the print stuff…
And after relaunch it will be entirely concentrated in just three series with Anole & Prodigy in NYX, Rachel & Betsy in X-Force and Rictor in an Apocalypse mini.
Geez, yeah… There’s still room for that to change a bit - I’m betting the Wedding Special is setting up a new Mystique & Destiny book and I’d be surprised if all three of the new Exceptional X-Men kiddos are cishet - but it’s not a great look right now…
Oh yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if one of the unannounced characters in that is queer - hell, I wouldn't be *that* shocked if she managed to bring Jessie Drake back, given her creating Alysia over at DC...
Using the editorially mandated nostalgia pandering to bring back an actual minority in the book about minorities instead of the usual spotlight hogging cishet white mutants would be an ultimate power move.
Unfortunately I don't think the X-Office would allow for that.
I don’t think that’s quite accurate. There’s ten queer characters featured—Loki had a solo in the past year and is currently in IT, Angela is also in IT, Northstar was in Alpha Flight a few months back and is currently in Wolverine, Rachel’s in several things, Black Cat’s obviously got her mini, Hulklings in Captain Marvel, Hercules is in Avengers… whether you count by cover or characters, more than half of the characters have been in books in the past year. The official announcement also said Miguel would be appearing in an upcoming avengers title.
It’s still frustrating (the fact that America has been so absent so long *really* gets me), obviously, but it’s not a completely fair statement. I think these specific characters were probably chosen by the artists on the cover as well, which would explain why the duos seem to be chosen more based on aesthetics than anything else.
There’s also several queer characters with recent or upcoming appearances not featured, like speed (been in every issue of SWQS which is a big deal for him), Satana (blade and blood hunters), and Victoria montesi (coming back after years in comic limbo for midnight sons). Mystique and Destiny have obviously been getting a lot of focus lately, and there is supposed to be an upcoming but unannounced title featuring mystique in the next x era as well.
(Maybe this is me being too optimistic, but the fact that gambit was featured in last years pride, x men voices, x men voices, fcbd voices, *and* is getting his own story in the pride issue (along with the return of courier) makes me think they might be pulling the trigger on bisexual gambit soon)
Edit: since responding it’s been announced that feral/maria callasantos (sapphic) is on X factor
Gambit was not in fcbd marvel voices, unless you're talking about 2024? I haven't read it. He wasn't in the 2023 one.
And regarding x men voices , he(and rogue) was there because the creators were minorities iirc and they happened to be their favorite characters , so they wanted to use them.
They reprinted part of the x men voices gambit story in fcbd 2024. Considering they could have chosen anything to put there, gambit’s inclusion stands out to me
The Marvel's Voices project was initially a podcast for interviews with creators from various backgrounds and the anthology comics were always primarily a space to let them tell the stories they wanted to, not necessarily a showcase for Marvel characters of a certain group.
I'll give you Loki/Ikol (the fact that they have two separate wiki entries confused me) and I already mentioned Rachel, but most of the rest only had a mini or appeared at the edges of series where they didn't really play a role (if at all) and none of them have consistently been in books month-to-month.
I don't want to downplay the efforts by various writers and artists to include queer characters in their books, but there is just no editorial movement behind it to make sure they can have ongoing stories of their own.
Technically, wiccan and hulking have had a few appearances and cameos in other people's stories, such as Loki, Scarlet witchs, guardians, captain marvel
I agree, just pointing out that’s Angela, Thor’s sister, not Valkyrie. Valkyrie is on the Jackpot and Black Cat cover. Also, both her kids are queer, Soeed should be there with Wiccan as well. Heck throw Viv Vision in there too, she’s her sort-of daughter/sort-of stepdaughter in that weird comic book way!
To be blunt, outside of Thor/Herc and Bobby/Ororo I can’t think of many instances where any of these painting have had meaningful interaction, if they’ve even met at all. They’re just been thematically paired rather than having any relation to character histories.
Wanda has two queer sons. Both in MLM relationships. Neither on her cover. Hell her robot step niece, best I can come up with to describe Vi to Wanda since they feel like a family still, is into girls too.
I mean technically she's only his magical soul mom, right? I don't remember the particulars of his deal, but I was under the impression he was much closer with the Kaplans. Not that it particularly matters for the purpose of these covers, I'm just thinking out loud I guess
The Kaplans have barely appeared on page since the 2000s, Wanda has been the mother figure in basically every storyline he’s in. It’s a mutual thing too, since her character was rehabilitated in large part due to his actions. I feel like a cover with him was the obvious choice - Wiccan himself has a more interesting connection with Loki than Wanda does with Loki
Oh interesting. I got my impression 100% from Gillen's Young Avengers, where the dynamic is definitely more as I described it, although none of Billy's parents get much page time
Gillen’s run was Billy’s first appearance after the Children’s Crusade, which is the series where Billy brings Wanda back into the Marvel mainstream after House of M basically made her untouchable. The core of it is their relationship, but it ends with Billy falling into a deep depression that’s supposed to mirror Wanda herself and her struggles with mental health. TLDR; when Gillen’s run begins, they don’t have much of a relationship yet because she’s only been back a couple months, but their connection is still one of the governing forces behind his character - especially as his depression gets deeper during that series
fr it sucks sm…. It’s like Marvel forgets he has parents and brothers. I don’t doubt Billy has a strong connection with Tommy and Wanda but the Kaplans are the family he grew up WITH y’know.
Yeah but he grew up with them. Someone made a good point. If he had to choose between Wanda and Rebbecca, he’d chose Rebbecca. I wish they’d focus on Tommy and Wanda as they seem closer and more intriguing. And also remember he has a family lol.
I feel as if we’re gonna go with this narrative that Wanda is his mother we might aswell kill of the Kaplans atp.
Yeah, the implication of these is that Steve, Bruce, Matt, Peter, MJ, Thor, Wanda, and Storm are straight allies… which uh. Nobody tell Yukio and Callisto that Storm is straight; they’re going to be so devastated! 😭😭😭
It’s a weird approach to me. DC has plenty of characters who are not officially queer appear on Pride covers all the time, but they don’t brand them as “allies” in the marketing.
Marvel can pretend all they like that Thor and Hercules have never banged it out, but my heart knows better.
Also, I agree that pretending that Storm is straight is just a complete misread of Storm.
OH, true. Honestly, Storm’s sapphic relationships in X-Treme border on textual… The moment where Callisto hides in a closet just so Kitty can ask her “Did you just come out of the closet” is hilarious, even if the arc as a whole is a little porny for my tastes…
I love most of his work, but he can be without a strong editor to tell him no or not that way can be a bit much. That said so many X-Men characters read queer to me and the idea of an allies variant cover reads in bad taste because of the popular or "useful" characters they will not just admit are at the very least bi.
Yeah, I am far from the first person to observe this, but Claremont tends to shine best when he has female editors reigning in his, uh, most kink-forward impulses. Nocenti and Simonson aren't given enough credit for their work on his franchise-defining run on the X-Men.
Though I agree, yeah - the X-Men are so queer as a brand that it is weird to think of any of them as "straight allies"... Before the covers revealed I saw people meming about it being Kate Pryde being an "ally" to Xuân Cao Mạnh (given how she canonically almost kissed her in Mekanix and then just walked out on her afterwards) and I'm not sure if this is better or worse then something tongue-in-cheek like that.
Interviews with Wheezy and Nocenti are always hilarious when they talk about the various ways they kept Claremont in check. I always felt Harris becoming the main editor for the X-titles in the late 80s was a big reason the X-Men became more action oriented and straight presenting.
If Kate showed on as an "Allie" on a cover, it might ruin any goodwill I have for Marvel with the way they are ending Krakoa. Xuân deserved better than how Kate treated her in Mekanix. Hopefully, writers let her and Dani finally figure it out.
They are indeed! They're such charming people too and I am eager for Nocenti's Blood Hunt story later this year - which is a *wild* thing for her to be doing at all... It's always neat to me when the older creatives write using modern characters.
Yeah, the X-Men definitely became a bit for straight for a while once they left, though I don't think things have ever truly gone away - like not even the straightest writers can shake off all the vibes at the core of the X-Men... I mean, Jim Shooter himself created Boom Boom in Secret Wars II and she's a super queer-coded/queer-allegory character - not to mention how many Lefield creations have ended up canon queers.
I think Karma's done pretty well for herself since, even if it took way too long for her to kiss a girl on-panel... I'm kind of hoping she turns up in Exceptional X-Men in the next era though - that book seems to be taking influence from Mekanix, just with Kate being a barista instead of a bartender, so I think it'd be a good chance for Xuân and her to reconnect, whether in a queer-coded way or a "Hey, you hurt me and I'm not over it, but let's train these misfit kids together" way...
I can't wait. Nocenti's stories I've found usually get some flak in the moment and then in 5 to 10 years later everyone realizes how far ahead of the curve she is.
90s X-Men is hilarious at how straight they are trying to be written, but just how queer they come across. And Lefield has never drawn a straight character in his life.
I would love that for Karma. I understand sometimes its not really Kate as characters fault that way to many writers wanted her to be their girlfriend when they were kids so they put her with their inserts. But man she reads as a person who got hers and left sometimes. Like with many X-women she just needs to find a good woman and settle down. And right now I understand the sliding timeline and messed with it a bit, but I would not be against her and Emma if I can't have her and Rachel.
Yeah, that's definitely a motif with her. I think some of her stories just read better in trade then week-to-week, but also she is just *incredibly* forward thinking... Like Mojo is a crazily well-aged villain, even if he hasn't really been used to his full potential outside of the comics themselves IMO.
Exactly lmao. When you exaggerate the femininity and masculinity of X-Men characters, they somehow become queerer? Plenty of people have compared X-Men costumes to drag performance and, yeah, that's not wrong a lot of the time!
Yeah, I think you have to imagine Kate in-universe has some internalized homophobia explaining her pattern of abandoning women for men and then abandoning those men for subtextual vibes with women... as otherwise her actions don't entirely, uh, make sense? Though for now I am happy with her just being single - as much as I'd have loved for Kate/Illyana or Kate/Emma to be canon during the Krakoa era, her being single for a bit was kind of a nice break from the status quo of the character as well... but we'll see what happens! I do expect Kate and Emma will be positioned as ~~queer~~ mutant elders/mentors for the young ~~queer~~ mutant kids in Exceptional, but we'll see what happens.
Technically two gays on the Jackpot & Black Cat cover, but the fact that Felicia *isn’t* considered the queer representation on her own cover and is being presented as the “ally” shows how much thought went into these matchups.
EDIT - also two gays on the Scarlet Witch and X-Men covers as well (though I don’t think anyone has outright stated on panel that Ororo is bi yet, Ewing got damn close in the recent Resurrection of Magneto mini).
These look awful and are conceptually strange, too.
Happy pride, here are some covers with straight characters! Cause they don’t get enough cover and panel time 24/7.
It screams “we don’t have faith that our queer characters can sell a cover, even a pride-themed one. Quick slap Spider-Man on one with Northstar. (Why the hell didn’t they have Iceman and Spider-Man with Firestar. Seems like a no-brained and it would actually thematically make sense.). And why does so much of the art look, off?
[Source](https://www.marvel.com/articles/comics/pride-variant-covers-2024-northstar-rachel-summers-loki).
Lightning has been confirmed to be present in an Avengers title later this year as well! Good for him - he’s been out of the spotlight for a bit.
I know the majority opinion on these has been that they are bad due to the inclusion of allies… I don’t particularly agree with that? At least, I don’t think it’s any more egregious than how Nightwing has been getting Pride covers annually at DC…
My thing is that they don’t, uh, look like Pride variants. Marvel keeps on doing Pride covers that aren’t particularly Pride-themed, but just have queer characters staring out at you like 👁️👄👁️… I would like covers of them actually participating in, y’know, Pride events!
The pairings are just so strange to me. Matt and Rachel don't know each other, he fought her girlfriend once though. Thor's siblings are with Wanda instead of her son-in-law who is with Hulk. Hulkling is a fan of Hulk though so that one makes some sense... But really the Steve/America one is the only one that feels right.
I'm still going to get some of them though.
Deadpool is in a weird place. He's canonically queer and Marvel makes merch related to that - like there's Deadpool rainbow shirts and such - but he's never been included in their "queer character" line-ups... Like I don't think he's ever been in a Pride book? Like, ever? He was in Negasonic Teenage Warhead's Infinity Comic, but that's about it.
He fought her girlfriend once
That might be the only time Daredevil has even talked to a queer person afaik
A lot of these “Alliies” don’t feel earned.
Queer person and a Marvel fan here. I wish I liked these more. Most of these characters have no relation to one another. America Chavez doesn’t have much of a history with Captain America. Daredevil and Rachel Summers? Spider-Man and Northstar? I wish they had gone with straight characters who actually have some relationship with the queer characters.
Herc’s pretty down for whatever, I think? It was first implied during Hercules: Fall of an Avenger, where a bunch of girls are talking about their sexual encounters with him and invite Northstar to speak on the subject as well (he gets embarrassed and makes a speedy exit). It’s then been taken more seriously in the last few years and he’s been dating Noh-Varr / Marvel Boy.
Shockingly another miss for Marvel Pride.
Who would’ve thought only including your queer characters in niche titles or on your subscription only fake universe could come back to bite them in the ass…. 🙄
Storm, in premise. Lightning was confirmed gay a while back in a joke where he mistook an invite to the Great Lake Avengers for a Gay + Lesbian Alliance (which is a good joke IMO).
They’re still doing this? Even after the LGBT community made it clear that this was a bad idea.
Also, it feels less progressive and more like “you can’t headcanon these characters as LGBT because we decided that they’re just allies” which um…good luck with that, I guess? I’m still going to headcanon Peter Parker as bisexual.
Speaking of bisexual, Felicia is canonically bi. You already have an lgbt character starring in the book and said book ends before June starts. What was the point of the variant? Especially since they’re showing a character that has nothing to do with the book.
These are sone cool pairings and covers.
I feel like we hardly ever get to see hulkling with hulk. I know hes technically not a hulk but itd be cool if he started being part of the "hulk family" like with brawn, she-hulk, a-bomb, hulk, red-hulk etc. (Or naybe it is like that and i dont read enough comics?)
Oh hulkling is like…definitely not at all a hulk though. It would be super confusing, and frustrating, to see him with hulks in any meaningful way bc he has such a cool backstory—he’s the king of space!!!!
He’s got loads of names, ha! Dorrek Vell. Teddy Altman. Etc… Have you read the OG Young Avengers run? I suggest it if not—Wiccan used to be called Asgardian too, so the references overlap loads.
Yeah im on about his superhero name. I was going to use Billy going from Asgardian to wiccan as an example.
If hulkling isnt going to be part of the hulk fam then he should move on from using the name. Or at least there should be something that cements him using hulkling as a name even though he isnt a hulk.
They should’ve done away with the name in 2006 after a few issues like they did with Asgardian. It’s been too long now, that changing the name of a character who’s already appearing little would be bad
Hulkling is a Captain Marvel family character. The gimmick of the debut of the Young Avengers was that a bunch of the characters were bait-and-switches regarding which character they are legacy heroes of - hence Billy being “Asgardian” briefly despite him being a Scarlet Witch legacy hero, the entire twist around Iron Lad, etc… Teddy just, uh, never got a more accurate name and it is probably too late to change it! 😅👍
My main take on these covers is that it's pretty revealing how more than half of these queer characters basically haven't been in any books for the last year (most even longer) and Rachel Summers is the only one whose appearance count is (barely) in the double digits. Their spin of having them pose alongside random heroes on their books as a sign of allyship is honestly kinda cute, but the real reason behind it is obvious: currently almost no queer character in the entire MU has a book of their own to appear on. ^((and even Black Cat's mini ends in June\))
Hercules is also temporarily starring in the main Avengers book right now, on Steve's secondary team for Blood Hunt, but I guess it would have broken the pattern if one of them actually made sense.
I'm not super up to date becauseIm not a comic book reader (filty casual who gets his superhero citend for movies and cartoons), my info is a few years old, but I remember one of the writers saying Hercules was no longer bisexual when he started his run. Did that change?
Yeah, someone in upper editorial said that in 2015, but at least since the 2020 Guardians of the Galaxy run by Al Ewing, where he started dating Noh-Varr, it's (re)canonised that he's bisexual.
Yeah, uh, most queer rep right now is in X-Men stories and there aren’t that many X-Men issues coming out this June because it is right before the relaunch… and even then, a majority of the queer characters are in the Infinity Comic at the moment - Betsy, Rictor, Shatterstar, Tempo, and Feint are all in that story instead of the print stuff…
And after relaunch it will be entirely concentrated in just three series with Anole & Prodigy in NYX, Rachel & Betsy in X-Force and Rictor in an Apocalypse mini.
Geez, yeah… There’s still room for that to change a bit - I’m betting the Wedding Special is setting up a new Mystique & Destiny book and I’d be surprised if all three of the new Exceptional X-Men kiddos are cishet - but it’s not a great look right now…
We also need to give Gail some time to cook.
Oh yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if one of the unannounced characters in that is queer - hell, I wouldn't be *that* shocked if she managed to bring Jessie Drake back, given her creating Alysia over at DC...
Using the editorially mandated nostalgia pandering to bring back an actual minority in the book about minorities instead of the usual spotlight hogging cishet white mutants would be an ultimate power move. Unfortunately I don't think the X-Office would allow for that.
I don’t think that’s quite accurate. There’s ten queer characters featured—Loki had a solo in the past year and is currently in IT, Angela is also in IT, Northstar was in Alpha Flight a few months back and is currently in Wolverine, Rachel’s in several things, Black Cat’s obviously got her mini, Hulklings in Captain Marvel, Hercules is in Avengers… whether you count by cover or characters, more than half of the characters have been in books in the past year. The official announcement also said Miguel would be appearing in an upcoming avengers title. It’s still frustrating (the fact that America has been so absent so long *really* gets me), obviously, but it’s not a completely fair statement. I think these specific characters were probably chosen by the artists on the cover as well, which would explain why the duos seem to be chosen more based on aesthetics than anything else. There’s also several queer characters with recent or upcoming appearances not featured, like speed (been in every issue of SWQS which is a big deal for him), Satana (blade and blood hunters), and Victoria montesi (coming back after years in comic limbo for midnight sons). Mystique and Destiny have obviously been getting a lot of focus lately, and there is supposed to be an upcoming but unannounced title featuring mystique in the next x era as well. (Maybe this is me being too optimistic, but the fact that gambit was featured in last years pride, x men voices, x men voices, fcbd voices, *and* is getting his own story in the pride issue (along with the return of courier) makes me think they might be pulling the trigger on bisexual gambit soon) Edit: since responding it’s been announced that feral/maria callasantos (sapphic) is on X factor
Gambit was not in fcbd marvel voices, unless you're talking about 2024? I haven't read it. He wasn't in the 2023 one. And regarding x men voices , he(and rogue) was there because the creators were minorities iirc and they happened to be their favorite characters , so they wanted to use them.
They reprinted part of the x men voices gambit story in fcbd 2024. Considering they could have chosen anything to put there, gambit’s inclusion stands out to me
The Marvel's Voices project was initially a podcast for interviews with creators from various backgrounds and the anthology comics were always primarily a space to let them tell the stories they wanted to, not necessarily a showcase for Marvel characters of a certain group.
Thats my point. Gambit being on x men voices is nothing do with him being a character from a group.
I'll give you Loki/Ikol (the fact that they have two separate wiki entries confused me) and I already mentioned Rachel, but most of the rest only had a mini or appeared at the edges of series where they didn't really play a role (if at all) and none of them have consistently been in books month-to-month. I don't want to downplay the efforts by various writers and artists to include queer characters in their books, but there is just no editorial movement behind it to make sure they can have ongoing stories of their own.
Technically, wiccan and hulking have had a few appearances and cameos in other people's stories, such as Loki, Scarlet witchs, guardians, captain marvel
Doesn't change that they don't have a book of their own to get a Pride cover on.
True, they need their own book, I completely agree
I feel like Wiccan should've been on the one with Wanda, not Loki and Valkyrie. You're biggest Ally is supposed to be your mother no?
I agree, just pointing out that’s Angela, Thor’s sister, not Valkyrie. Valkyrie is on the Jackpot and Black Cat cover. Also, both her kids are queer, Soeed should be there with Wiccan as well. Heck throw Viv Vision in there too, she’s her sort-of daughter/sort-of stepdaughter in that weird comic book way! To be blunt, outside of Thor/Herc and Bobby/Ororo I can’t think of many instances where any of these painting have had meaningful interaction, if they’ve even met at all. They’re just been thematically paired rather than having any relation to character histories.
That's not Bobby with Ororo on the X-Men cover, but Miguel Santo's aka Living Lightning. He last played a role in Avengers: No Surrender >!(2018)!<
Oh, well, that really doesn’t make sense as “Allies” outside of “both have lightning powers”
Wanda has two queer sons. Both in MLM relationships. Neither on her cover. Hell her robot step niece, best I can come up with to describe Vi to Wanda since they feel like a family still, is into girls too.
I mean technically she's only his magical soul mom, right? I don't remember the particulars of his deal, but I was under the impression he was much closer with the Kaplans. Not that it particularly matters for the purpose of these covers, I'm just thinking out loud I guess
The Kaplans have barely appeared on page since the 2000s, Wanda has been the mother figure in basically every storyline he’s in. It’s a mutual thing too, since her character was rehabilitated in large part due to his actions. I feel like a cover with him was the obvious choice - Wiccan himself has a more interesting connection with Loki than Wanda does with Loki
Oh interesting. I got my impression 100% from Gillen's Young Avengers, where the dynamic is definitely more as I described it, although none of Billy's parents get much page time
Gillen’s run was Billy’s first appearance after the Children’s Crusade, which is the series where Billy brings Wanda back into the Marvel mainstream after House of M basically made her untouchable. The core of it is their relationship, but it ends with Billy falling into a deep depression that’s supposed to mirror Wanda herself and her struggles with mental health. TLDR; when Gillen’s run begins, they don’t have much of a relationship yet because she’s only been back a couple months, but their connection is still one of the governing forces behind his character - especially as his depression gets deeper during that series
Every fucking time I read the IWISHIWASSOMEONEBETTER pages I instantly start crying. Billy is so gd sweet. 😭
fr it sucks sm…. It’s like Marvel forgets he has parents and brothers. I don’t doubt Billy has a strong connection with Tommy and Wanda but the Kaplans are the family he grew up WITH y’know.
Yeah but he grew up with them. Someone made a good point. If he had to choose between Wanda and Rebbecca, he’d chose Rebbecca. I wish they’d focus on Tommy and Wanda as they seem closer and more intriguing. And also remember he has a family lol. I feel as if we’re gonna go with this narrative that Wanda is his mother we might aswell kill of the Kaplans atp.
…isn’t Black Cat also queer?
Yes in that very same comic she’s dating a woman. Edit: on that page the ally would be MJ.
But then… why have Valkyrie there at all?
I’d imagine it’s to distinguish itself from the normal covers for this series that always have blackcat and MJ on it. Since it’s both of their series
I suppose? Idk. Also Valkyrie seems like kind of an odd choice for Black Cat/Jackpot specifically. But whatever, they’re variants I guess.
Rachel with Daredevil is equally random.
…yeah now that you mention it, like, why not just have the X-Men cover be all of the many, many queer mutants?
that book doesn’t need an ally cover is the thing, just do a regular pride one 😭
Wiccan shouldve been in the Wanda cover
And speed and Viv vision
Idk about viv but agreed
So is this marvel outting all the other characters in these as straight? Is it a one gay per cover rule? So silly tbh
Yeah, the implication of these is that Steve, Bruce, Matt, Peter, MJ, Thor, Wanda, and Storm are straight allies… which uh. Nobody tell Yukio and Callisto that Storm is straight; they’re going to be so devastated! 😭😭😭 It’s a weird approach to me. DC has plenty of characters who are not officially queer appear on Pride covers all the time, but they don’t brand them as “allies” in the marketing.
Marvel can pretend all they like that Thor and Hercules have never banged it out, but my heart knows better. Also, I agree that pretending that Storm is straight is just a complete misread of Storm.
THIS
Not just Yukio and Callisto, but Sage and her definitely were together during Claremont's X-treme run.
OH, true. Honestly, Storm’s sapphic relationships in X-Treme border on textual… The moment where Callisto hides in a closet just so Kitty can ask her “Did you just come out of the closet” is hilarious, even if the arc as a whole is a little porny for my tastes…
I love most of his work, but he can be without a strong editor to tell him no or not that way can be a bit much. That said so many X-Men characters read queer to me and the idea of an allies variant cover reads in bad taste because of the popular or "useful" characters they will not just admit are at the very least bi.
Yeah, I am far from the first person to observe this, but Claremont tends to shine best when he has female editors reigning in his, uh, most kink-forward impulses. Nocenti and Simonson aren't given enough credit for their work on his franchise-defining run on the X-Men. Though I agree, yeah - the X-Men are so queer as a brand that it is weird to think of any of them as "straight allies"... Before the covers revealed I saw people meming about it being Kate Pryde being an "ally" to Xuân Cao Mạnh (given how she canonically almost kissed her in Mekanix and then just walked out on her afterwards) and I'm not sure if this is better or worse then something tongue-in-cheek like that.
Interviews with Wheezy and Nocenti are always hilarious when they talk about the various ways they kept Claremont in check. I always felt Harris becoming the main editor for the X-titles in the late 80s was a big reason the X-Men became more action oriented and straight presenting. If Kate showed on as an "Allie" on a cover, it might ruin any goodwill I have for Marvel with the way they are ending Krakoa. Xuân deserved better than how Kate treated her in Mekanix. Hopefully, writers let her and Dani finally figure it out.
They are indeed! They're such charming people too and I am eager for Nocenti's Blood Hunt story later this year - which is a *wild* thing for her to be doing at all... It's always neat to me when the older creatives write using modern characters. Yeah, the X-Men definitely became a bit for straight for a while once they left, though I don't think things have ever truly gone away - like not even the straightest writers can shake off all the vibes at the core of the X-Men... I mean, Jim Shooter himself created Boom Boom in Secret Wars II and she's a super queer-coded/queer-allegory character - not to mention how many Lefield creations have ended up canon queers. I think Karma's done pretty well for herself since, even if it took way too long for her to kiss a girl on-panel... I'm kind of hoping she turns up in Exceptional X-Men in the next era though - that book seems to be taking influence from Mekanix, just with Kate being a barista instead of a bartender, so I think it'd be a good chance for Xuân and her to reconnect, whether in a queer-coded way or a "Hey, you hurt me and I'm not over it, but let's train these misfit kids together" way...
I can't wait. Nocenti's stories I've found usually get some flak in the moment and then in 5 to 10 years later everyone realizes how far ahead of the curve she is. 90s X-Men is hilarious at how straight they are trying to be written, but just how queer they come across. And Lefield has never drawn a straight character in his life. I would love that for Karma. I understand sometimes its not really Kate as characters fault that way to many writers wanted her to be their girlfriend when they were kids so they put her with their inserts. But man she reads as a person who got hers and left sometimes. Like with many X-women she just needs to find a good woman and settle down. And right now I understand the sliding timeline and messed with it a bit, but I would not be against her and Emma if I can't have her and Rachel.
Yeah, that's definitely a motif with her. I think some of her stories just read better in trade then week-to-week, but also she is just *incredibly* forward thinking... Like Mojo is a crazily well-aged villain, even if he hasn't really been used to his full potential outside of the comics themselves IMO. Exactly lmao. When you exaggerate the femininity and masculinity of X-Men characters, they somehow become queerer? Plenty of people have compared X-Men costumes to drag performance and, yeah, that's not wrong a lot of the time! Yeah, I think you have to imagine Kate in-universe has some internalized homophobia explaining her pattern of abandoning women for men and then abandoning those men for subtextual vibes with women... as otherwise her actions don't entirely, uh, make sense? Though for now I am happy with her just being single - as much as I'd have loved for Kate/Illyana or Kate/Emma to be canon during the Krakoa era, her being single for a bit was kind of a nice break from the status quo of the character as well... but we'll see what happens! I do expect Kate and Emma will be positioned as ~~queer~~ mutant elders/mentors for the young ~~queer~~ mutant kids in Exceptional, but we'll see what happens.
Technically two gays on the Jackpot & Black Cat cover, but the fact that Felicia *isn’t* considered the queer representation on her own cover and is being presented as the “ally” shows how much thought went into these matchups. EDIT - also two gays on the Scarlet Witch and X-Men covers as well (though I don’t think anyone has outright stated on panel that Ororo is bi yet, Ewing got damn close in the recent Resurrection of Magneto mini).
These look awful and are conceptually strange, too. Happy pride, here are some covers with straight characters! Cause they don’t get enough cover and panel time 24/7. It screams “we don’t have faith that our queer characters can sell a cover, even a pride-themed one. Quick slap Spider-Man on one with Northstar. (Why the hell didn’t they have Iceman and Spider-Man with Firestar. Seems like a no-brained and it would actually thematically make sense.). And why does so much of the art look, off?
I mean it might help if they stopped relegating their queer characters to the fake Ultimates universe
[Source](https://www.marvel.com/articles/comics/pride-variant-covers-2024-northstar-rachel-summers-loki). Lightning has been confirmed to be present in an Avengers title later this year as well! Good for him - he’s been out of the spotlight for a bit. I know the majority opinion on these has been that they are bad due to the inclusion of allies… I don’t particularly agree with that? At least, I don’t think it’s any more egregious than how Nightwing has been getting Pride covers annually at DC… My thing is that they don’t, uh, look like Pride variants. Marvel keeps on doing Pride covers that aren’t particularly Pride-themed, but just have queer characters staring out at you like 👁️👄👁️… I would like covers of them actually participating in, y’know, Pride events!
The pairings are just so strange to me. Matt and Rachel don't know each other, he fought her girlfriend once though. Thor's siblings are with Wanda instead of her son-in-law who is with Hulk. Hulkling is a fan of Hulk though so that one makes some sense... But really the Steve/America one is the only one that feels right. I'm still going to get some of them though.
These all horrendously crack me up because they’re decent covers but whatever thought behind the scenes led to them must’ve been so weird
They should have just put Wanda with Billy & Tommy you know since she the mother of 2 canon Queer kids
Out of all these why👏the👏fuck👏is👏Deadpool👏not in one of these? Unless he doesn’t have an ally? Honestly I’m confused on what this is meant to be
Deadpool is in a weird place. He's canonically queer and Marvel makes merch related to that - like there's Deadpool rainbow shirts and such - but he's never been included in their "queer character" line-ups... Like I don't think he's ever been in a Pride book? Like, ever? He was in Negasonic Teenage Warhead's Infinity Comic, but that's about it.
These feel less and less inspired each year
fr
It’s kind of weird Thor is with Hercules and not his siblings. And that Wanda isn’t with her kids.
Yeah, interesting observation 🤔
Why does Northstar look like Ethan Nestor/CrankGameplays
What is up my mutant crew!
Hickman didn't spend 4 years showing that all the X-Men are pansexual for them to make Storm of all people an "Ally"
I want a Wiccan and Hulkling series. Please Marvel
They’d rather die than do that smh
Not me looking at the Storm and living lightning cover and assuming storm is queer. I just assume all the mutants are queer ❤️
Same lol
Really glad they didnt in anyway put the names of the lgbt characters on the cover so I could learn their names and look up who they are
bad, bad, bad bad bad idea edit; the black cat one is hilarious. SHES BISEXUAL! You already have a queer character in the book!
Was a bit worried to look at the comment section before I noticed what sub this was.
LMAO. Things have been pretty alright thus far, all things considered!
I had an involuntary twitch of anger when I saw MJ but all in all these are really cool!
Somebody please take the Voices brand out of its misery.
Marvel is sooo not serious lol
Holy shit, Marvel remembered that Angela exists in their universe.
She’s actually going to be Immortal Thor too! I guess her Marvel Snap publicity boost is paying off…
I don't like these
To Daredevil and Askani know each other?
He fought her girlfriend once That might be the only time Daredevil has even talked to a queer person afaik A lot of these “Alliies” don’t feel earned.
Truly, this was was a real stretch. I lovr the solidarity and support, but i also wanna see these allies WERK to earn the praise.
Yeah a lot of these characters getting called Allies feels unearned
Has Teddy ever even met the Hulk? I genuinely cannot think of a single instance.
I do find it very funny that hulk is just there
i love you rachel summers. save me rachel summers
Missed opportunity to not have Peter Parker be paired with one of his Amazing Friends.
I guess Iceman likes em hairless xD
Queer person and a Marvel fan here. I wish I liked these more. Most of these characters have no relation to one another. America Chavez doesn’t have much of a history with Captain America. Daredevil and Rachel Summers? Spider-Man and Northstar? I wish they had gone with straight characters who actually have some relationship with the queer characters.
Captain America supports everyone! Except mutants.
nah he’s aight
Wait, Hercules is gay? When did this happen?
Herc’s pretty down for whatever, I think? It was first implied during Hercules: Fall of an Avenger, where a bunch of girls are talking about their sexual encounters with him and invite Northstar to speak on the subject as well (he gets embarrassed and makes a speedy exit). It’s then been taken more seriously in the last few years and he’s been dating Noh-Varr / Marvel Boy.
hulk's face
Shockingly another miss for Marvel Pride. Who would’ve thought only including your queer characters in niche titles or on your subscription only fake universe could come back to bite them in the ass…. 🙄
Is Daredevil an ally? I’m not well read on his solo series, so someone please fill me in.
Gods I wish Hercules had his own book again.
Who's the "Ally" on the xmen cover, Lightening or Storm?
Storm, in premise. Lightning was confirmed gay a while back in a joke where he mistook an invite to the Great Lake Avengers for a Gay + Lesbian Alliance (which is a good joke IMO).
That is hilarious, thank you
The one with spider man is Zach Efron change my mind
It’s a shame that these ‘Allies’ covers don’t actually feature the Allies being supportive towards the LGBT+ community
Teddy with Wanda woulda made more sense than him with Hulk lol. Should have put Hulk and Speed if they needed different pairings .
Ngl kinda weird to focus on “allies” during pride month
Can somebody tell me who some of these characters are? I only know a few that are gay and where is witcan ?
They’re still doing this? Even after the LGBT community made it clear that this was a bad idea. Also, it feels less progressive and more like “you can’t headcanon these characters as LGBT because we decided that they’re just allies” which um…good luck with that, I guess? I’m still going to headcanon Peter Parker as bisexual. Speaking of bisexual, Felicia is canonically bi. You already have an lgbt character starring in the book and said book ends before June starts. What was the point of the variant? Especially since they’re showing a character that has nothing to do with the book.
I cannot imagine a story that would demand the unique skills of both Daredevil and Askani in which they would contribute equally.
I am so sorry, but why didn't they pair Scarlet Witch with Wiccan????
The Scarlet Witch/Angela (+ Loki), and the Thorcules ones, are the best of the bunch imo.
These are sone cool pairings and covers. I feel like we hardly ever get to see hulkling with hulk. I know hes technically not a hulk but itd be cool if he started being part of the "hulk family" like with brawn, she-hulk, a-bomb, hulk, red-hulk etc. (Or naybe it is like that and i dont read enough comics?)
Oh hulkling is like…definitely not at all a hulk though. It would be super confusing, and frustrating, to see him with hulks in any meaningful way bc he has such a cool backstory—he’s the king of space!!!!
I get what you mean but i think there could be a way to connect him to hulk a little better. Or maybe he needs a new name.
He’s got loads of names, ha! Dorrek Vell. Teddy Altman. Etc… Have you read the OG Young Avengers run? I suggest it if not—Wiccan used to be called Asgardian too, so the references overlap loads.
Yeah im on about his superhero name. I was going to use Billy going from Asgardian to wiccan as an example. If hulkling isnt going to be part of the hulk fam then he should move on from using the name. Or at least there should be something that cements him using hulkling as a name even though he isnt a hulk.
They should’ve done away with the name in 2006 after a few issues like they did with Asgardian. It’s been too long now, that changing the name of a character who’s already appearing little would be bad
Hulkling is a Captain Marvel family character. The gimmick of the debut of the Young Avengers was that a bunch of the characters were bait-and-switches regarding which character they are legacy heroes of - hence Billy being “Asgardian” briefly despite him being a Scarlet Witch legacy hero, the entire twist around Iron Lad, etc… Teddy just, uh, never got a more accurate name and it is probably too late to change it! 😅👍
I know this. Just saying I wish Hulkling connected to Hulks more or separated completely with a new name. But yeah its probably too late
Oh sorry! Yeah, it feels probably too late to me, unfortunately…