Marvellous wedding

An X-Man will have Marvel Comics first gay wedding. And rival DC plans to out a hero

An X-Man will have Marvel Comics first gay wedding. And rival DC plans to out a hero

Love works in mysterious ways,and in this case it will don a cape. In issue number 50 of Astonishing X-Men published by Marvel,the comic industrys biggest publisher,with superheroes like Spider-Man part of its stable,and coming after the huge success of The Avengers Northstar,the first openly gay mainstream comic superhero,proposed to his boyfriend. In a month,the couple will tie the knot. Rival DC,whose most famous superhero is Batman,also revealed that an old character will be reintroduced as gay.

Although LGBT characters are not new to comics,superheroes in these books are not exactly known for diversity. Now there are signs of change. Northstar has been out since 1992,but in recent years,the number of gay and lesbian characters in comic books has increased. Batwoman was described as a lesbian socialite by night and a crime-fighter by later in the night in a new incarnation in 2006. Even the comic for middle America,Archie,debuted its first gay character in 2010. Marvel and DCs endorsement of gay rights may represent a new normal,especially after Barack Obama became the first US president to support gay marriage.

Still,that the storyline of a gay superhero marrying his partner touches off exclamations is a reminder that homosexuality is far from universally acceptable. Even in the US,Obamas endorsement came at a time when North Carolina was amending its constitution to prohibit same-sex marriages. And in India,being homosexual is barely even legal.