The moral alignment of Marvel's GLBT characters

[transemacabre]

As I mentioned in this post, it's striking and somewhat depressing how many of Marvel's GLBT characters are villains, anti-villains, or spent a substantial period of their career as villains. I feel this came about because of two reasons: firstly, that media has a long history of allowing villainous characters to display controversial or 'wicked' characteristics such as homosexuality, which would be unthinkable for heroic characters (think of all the lesbian vampires in film that appeared LONG before any lesbian could take center stage as a heroine); and secondly, because like one-fourth of these characters were outed during Fabian Nicieza's tenure on Thunderbolts, and not only is the cast of Thunderbolts comprised entirely of villains and ex-villains, Nicieza LOVES his gay characters. Seriously, if Nicieza's writing it, somebody's gonna be gay.



Just to illustrate my point, all the characters outed or implied to be GLBT by Nicieza will be marked with an asterisk (*).

VILLAINS and ANTI-VILLAINS

Electro (bisexual)
*Shinobi Shaw (bisexual)
Daken (bisexual)
*Gypsy Moth (bisexual)
*Joystick (bisexual/bicurious)
*Man-Killer (lesbian)
Machinesmith (gay)
Mystique (bisexual/bigendered)
Destiny (lesbian/bisexual). Note: Had at least one child, which implies a prior relationship with a man, but this is not neccesarily proof she was not truly a lesbian.
*Andreas von Strucker (bisexual). Note: Confirmed bisexual by Word of God.
Mephisto (bisexual/omnisexual)
*Deadpool (bicurious/bisexual)

Possibly GLBT, but not outright stated category:

*Blizzard (gay? Could definately be read as gay in his Tbolts days, although Nicieza said he really hadn't thought about it one way or the other for Donnie).

The uncategorizable category:

The Void, who on one ocassional passionately kissed his opposite number (and splinter self), the Sentry.
Purple Man, who sexually assaulted at least one male (Andreas von Strucker), but is a sexual sadist and would likely assault anyone in his thrall.

EX-VILLAINS

Moondragon (lesbian/bisexual)
Xavin (bigendered alien). Note: Only an antagonist for like half an issue.
Living Lightning (gay). Note: had prior relationships with women, so might've been bisexual, but confirmed gay by Word of God.
Kismet (transgendered).
Cloud (bigendered alien). Note: only briefly a villain.
Black Cat (bisexual)
Victoria Hand (lesbian)

HEROES and ANTI-HEROES

Phyla-Vell (lesbian/bisexual)
Karolina Dean (lesbian)
Northstar (gay)
Freedom Ring (gay)
Wiccan (gay)
Hulking (gay)
Bloke (gay)
Destroyer (gay)
Union Jack II (gay)
Flatman (gay)
Anole (gay)
*Shatterstar (gay)
*Rictor (bisexual)
Victoria Montessi (lesbian)
Nash (lesbian)
Amy Chen (lesbian)
Doop (bisexual)
Firelord (bisexual)
Hector (gay)
Julie Power (lesbian)
Phat (gay)
Vivisector (gay)
Karma (lesbian)
Greymalkin (gay)
Jennifer Kale (bisexual)
Marlo Chandler (bisexual/bicurious)

Possibly GLBT, but not outright stated category:

Storm (bisexual? Her relationship with Yukio suggests yes)
Hercules (bisexual? Hinted at by Northstar's reaction at his funeral).
*Gambit (bisexual? Certainly willing enough to kiss Courier).
Jazinda (bisexual? Seems to be in love with She-Hulk)
Thundra (lesbian? Finds it "a pity" that She-Hulk and Jazinda aren't together)

The uncategorizable category:

Korg and Hiroim (definately in a relationship, but as Korg is an alien from a monogendered species, I'm not really sure what this would be classified under. Maybe just queer?)
Courier (male mutant, currently trapped in female form. Apparently straight, but kissed Gambit quite willingly one time.)
Starhawk II (actually two beings, a male and female, simultaneously sharing a single body. Tough to classify)
The Sentry (see: The Void)

Comments

[minutia-r.livejournal.com]

There's also the fact that Marvel characters change alignments like most people change undershirts. Seriously, I think it was a kink of Chris Claremont's.

I do notice that the villainous characters on your list are more likely to be bisexual, and the heroic ones more likely to be monosexual. It's the Depraved Bisexual trope!

[transemacabre.livejournal.com]

Oh yes! Daken IS the Depraved Bisexual trope personafied. Also notice that the GLBT heroes are overall MUCH more obscure than the GLBT villains (Mystique, Deadpool, Electro, and Black Cat are all well-known from the movies/tv shows, Daken headlines his own book, and Mephisto, while not a popular villain, is a major league heavy-hitter). The villains are also allowed to get away with being much more blatantly sexual. It's ricockulous that Daken is straight up banging dudes in his solo book, and Wiccan and Hulking have never kissed on panel. The heroes are also more likely to be paired off safely together.

About half the GLBT heroes are obscure, dead, or haven't appeared in years. The transgendered/bigendered characters are almost all MIA.