Marvel's next big step

I feel like lately, the issue of gay marriage has been subject to discussion a lot more than in the past. Several big (and for conservative people very controversial) revelations have taken place lately, most notably Obama announcing his support for gay marriage on national TV (thanks Obama). But there have also been people who used other media to show their support. Seventy three year old comic book publisher Marvel Comics for example, has announced that Northstar, one of the superhero’s that appear in their X-Men comics, is going to be marrying his boyfriend in an upcoming issue. “This is not as important as Obama announcing his support for gay marriage!” might be what you are thinking right now. I do not agree. I think making an advance like this in a mainstream comic book that is popular with the youth could have a big impact within the youth and may not be overlooked.

The Northstar character

Although the concept of him marrying another male character was big news when it was announced, Northstar’s sexuality has been known for a while. Maybe a little back-story would be nice. X-Men was created in the early sixties. The “X-Men” are a team of superhero’s (or mutants as they call themselves) who fight evil (sounds pretty standard right?). In the late seventies, another team of superhero’s was introduced, “Alpha Flight” and one of it’s members is Northstar. In the early eighties, when the Alpha Flight team became more popular and even got it’s own series of comic books, creator John Byrne wanted to give his characters more depth, and thus decided that one of them had to be gay. Unfortunately at that time, John had to follow orders of a man called Jim Shooter, a man who was against homosexuality. John was persistent though, and although he wasn’t allowed to literally state that Northstar was gay, he made it clear through subtle hints. In the early nineties, permission was finally given to reveal Northstar’s sexuality, and so he came out. It caused a lot of controversy which boosted the sales. After this, Northstar has shown interest in several characters from the X-Men series, but ended up settling with the character Kyle, who by the way is a character without any superpowers, in 2009.

Northstar’s wedding is planned for the issue that’s going to be published on June 27. Twenty years after coming out, Northstar is finally going to get married, which marks the second time Northstar caused the controversy meter to peak. Infamous group One Million Moms for example has claimed Marvel Comics wants to brainwash children.

Can you imagine little boys saying, "I want a boyfriend or husband like X-Men?" This is ridiculous! Why do adult gay men need comic superheroes as role models? They don't but do want to indoctrinate impressionable young minds by placing these gay characters on pedestals in a positive light. These companies are heavily influencing our youth by using children's superheroes to desensitize and brainwash them in thinking that a gay lifestyle choice is normal and desirable. As Christians, we know that homosexuality is a sin (Romans 1:26-27)

Cover of the said Archie comic

Marvel was not the first mainstream comic publisher to feature a gay wedding. The popular Archie Comics were ahead of them with the marriage of the gay character Kevin Keller (who was introduced in 2010) in early 2012. One Million Moms also had something to say about this:

Unfortunately, children are now being exposed to same-sex marriage in your toy store. This is the last place a parent would expect to be confronted with questions from their children on topics that are too complicated for them to understand. Please remove all the same-sex ‘Just Married – Archie’ comic books immediately from your shelves. My decision to shop in your stores depends on it.

Who do these “million moms” think they are? Why hold such a grudge against homosexuality? Chill out ladies, it’s just love, except a little different! They say that homosexuality is too difficult for a child to understand. Well, so what? A friggin television is too complicated for a child to understand, yet you still let them look at that! Children don’t have to understand how everything works, they have their own simple interpretation of things. When they see a television they might think “Oh, magic moving images, neat!”. They won’t understand how that television works, but it won’t matter to them. So when they see a gay couple on the cover of a comic book they will probably think “Oh, two people getting married, cute! (or possibly “yuck” as young children often don’t like marriage in the first place)”. It will only get complicated once you teach your children that “love and marriage is between one man and one woman”, as a wrong standard will be set that doesn’t match reality and ultimately the cover of this comic book!



But although some people might not like the idea of a role model superhero getting married to a member of the same sex, I think this will have a very positive effect. I think it will increase the awareness within comic book communities, and even outside of those communities thanks to the media attention caused by One Million Moms, thanks ladies!

Through the years, there have been many gay comic book characters, but telling about that wouldn’t be efficient as Chelsea has already written about them!

Now let’s hope more comics will follow in Marvel’s wake. But let’s not stop at comics, I want to see more media stand up for our community! Games, TV series, movies, stand up for us just like Marvel! It will only be good for business, as One Million Moms will probably launch it into the news, meaning free advertisement.