Blizzard: gay or just happy?
May. 3rd, 2006 04:06 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
transemacabreA little essay on one of my favorite TBolts, Donnie Gill (aka Blizzard), and the eternal question (or at least the question most asked about him since New TBolts #1): has Blizzard turned to the homo side of the Force, or is he a straight boy in spandex?
We first get an inkling towards Donnie's sexuality when he accompanies Speed Demon and Joystick to the strip club. Although ex-supervillainess and current-stripper Pretty Persuasions is shaking her goods in skin-tight black leather and fishnets, Donnie pointedly ignores the show and keeps watching the TV instead. After he's kicked off the team, Donnie goes back to the strip club, but once again ignores the girls, and you get the impression he hangs out there hoping to run into Speed Demon. Later on, when Fixer puts on porn to calm down the newly resurrected Blackout, Donnie says, "We have to keep this stuff on 24/7?" to which Fixer replies, "That's a problem?". There's also some indication in the closeness of his relationship with Speed Demon, and at one point Jim compares him to a puppy following him around. Joystick, the official Thunderbolts HO! shows no interest in Donnie, despite hoping on most every other guy on the team (even Zemo!). So let's sum up our evidence:
1. Donnie isn't interested in het porn or jiggling strippers.
1.a. How many straight guys you know wouldn't be staring at Pretty Persuasion's ass?
1.b. He may just be uncomfortable with displays of sexuality. Strippers and porn starlets aren't to every guy's taste.
2. Joystick isn't interested in him, despite sleeping/flirting with Speed Demon, Genis, Fixer, Zemo, and Atlas.
2.a. Donnie is a reasonably attractive man, so why's she not interested? Could she be picking up something on her gaydar?
2.b. She's also not hit on Radioactive Man or MACH-IV, and Speed Demon got nowhere with her. Donnie may just not be her type.
3. Donnie follows Jim around like a puppy.
3.a. It's unusual enough that several characters commented on Donnie's fixation on Jim. Perhaps an unconscious display of puppy love?
3.b. Could just be a classic example of a weak personality attaching itself to a strong personality.
4. No girlfriend or wife has ever been mentioned for Donnie.
4.a. Even Radioactive Man apparently has a woman attached to him in some way (Sinpei Ling). Why wouldn't Donnie, a good-looking guy who doesn't emit deadly radiation, have any lady friends at all?
4.b. We don't know enough about Donnie's past to say if he has had romantic relationships or not. A girlfriend or wife could easily be introduced at a later point.
At this point, I think you could make a good argument for or against Donnie being gay. We simply don't have enough evidence either way. In my opinion, IF Donnie is gay, he strikes me as the sort of guy who would be so deeply in the closet that he wouldn't even acknowedge it. From what we know of Donnie's past, he grew up underpriviledged and undereducated, and probably didn't encounter much positive feedback about homosexuality. As an adult he's involved himself in the hyper-masculine world of supervillainy, likewise not exactly a bastion of tolerance and acceptance. As Fabian Nicieza commented, if Blizzard was gay, the last person he'd want to tell would be Speed Demon, who'd likely not take the news well at all. So until more evidence becomes available, I have to judge this one: UNDECIDED.
We first get an inkling towards Donnie's sexuality when he accompanies Speed Demon and Joystick to the strip club. Although ex-supervillainess and current-stripper Pretty Persuasions is shaking her goods in skin-tight black leather and fishnets, Donnie pointedly ignores the show and keeps watching the TV instead. After he's kicked off the team, Donnie goes back to the strip club, but once again ignores the girls, and you get the impression he hangs out there hoping to run into Speed Demon. Later on, when Fixer puts on porn to calm down the newly resurrected Blackout, Donnie says, "We have to keep this stuff on 24/7?" to which Fixer replies, "That's a problem?". There's also some indication in the closeness of his relationship with Speed Demon, and at one point Jim compares him to a puppy following him around. Joystick, the official Thunderbolts HO! shows no interest in Donnie, despite hoping on most every other guy on the team (even Zemo!). So let's sum up our evidence:
1. Donnie isn't interested in het porn or jiggling strippers.
1.a. How many straight guys you know wouldn't be staring at Pretty Persuasion's ass?
1.b. He may just be uncomfortable with displays of sexuality. Strippers and porn starlets aren't to every guy's taste.
2. Joystick isn't interested in him, despite sleeping/flirting with Speed Demon, Genis, Fixer, Zemo, and Atlas.
2.a. Donnie is a reasonably attractive man, so why's she not interested? Could she be picking up something on her gaydar?
2.b. She's also not hit on Radioactive Man or MACH-IV, and Speed Demon got nowhere with her. Donnie may just not be her type.
3. Donnie follows Jim around like a puppy.
3.a. It's unusual enough that several characters commented on Donnie's fixation on Jim. Perhaps an unconscious display of puppy love?
3.b. Could just be a classic example of a weak personality attaching itself to a strong personality.
4. No girlfriend or wife has ever been mentioned for Donnie.
4.a. Even Radioactive Man apparently has a woman attached to him in some way (Sinpei Ling). Why wouldn't Donnie, a good-looking guy who doesn't emit deadly radiation, have any lady friends at all?
4.b. We don't know enough about Donnie's past to say if he has had romantic relationships or not. A girlfriend or wife could easily be introduced at a later point.
At this point, I think you could make a good argument for or against Donnie being gay. We simply don't have enough evidence either way. In my opinion, IF Donnie is gay, he strikes me as the sort of guy who would be so deeply in the closet that he wouldn't even acknowedge it. From what we know of Donnie's past, he grew up underpriviledged and undereducated, and probably didn't encounter much positive feedback about homosexuality. As an adult he's involved himself in the hyper-masculine world of supervillainy, likewise not exactly a bastion of tolerance and acceptance. As Fabian Nicieza commented, if Blizzard was gay, the last person he'd want to tell would be Speed Demon, who'd likely not take the news well at all. So until more evidence becomes available, I have to judge this one: UNDECIDED.
