» Dc Switches Prominent Hero's Orientation

[VirusZero]

According to BleedingCool, in June DC is going to reboot one of their characters to become openly gay.

(Because they state gay and not lesbian, it means we're looking at a male character... No not Wonder Woman, even if she is manlier than Superman. And because they stated prominent that means they won't be throwing a token character in just to say they did it. This means someone who virtually everyone knows and when they think DC is one of the leading characters. EX- Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, Aquaman, etc...)

So, speculation time... who do you think it is? Who would you like to see it be? (Or do you care at all?)

Why do you think DC is doing this? Have they actually evolved as they claimed or is it merely a stunt to cash in on the current news issues? (Where gay rights is a huge political point in the US right now.)

[Jet]

Calling it now, its Aquaman.

[VirusZero]

While I wouldn't be surprised to see them make it Aquaman.

My actual guess would be Batman given the history of Batman and homosexual allegations.

In the early Batman years (when they introduced Robin) they had some questionable scenes in the panels. One of which showing Batman and Robin sleeping in the same bed. Pictured here on the Homosexuality in Batman page on wikipedia.

I mean Fredric Wertham actually wrote a book titled: "Seduction of the Innocent" talking about comics and their effects on youth with large sections of it all about Batman and Robin.

Another thing that might point to a gay Batman is Batman's rejecting/reactions to the various female figures like presented here. (Which apparently was not an uncommon reaction.)

[randomdrifter865]

What? Another weird topic... Oh I can see the batman fans raging now if that happened. And how is Aquaman gay? When its clear to me has a wife and child depending on the universe variation I suppose.

[Jet]

Yeah, I too think DC would open up a huge can of worms if they made Batman gay. I realize Robin's costume does not do him any favors but he's the goddamn Batman, fans would riot.

I don't understand why DC doesn't just make a gay hero and include him in the Justice League, fans tend to get upset whenever some writer comes along and decides to change details about their favorite heroes. I feel like its just a stunt to keep up with current issues, so it'll be interesting to see how its received.

[VirusZero]

Drifter, my understanding is that they're taking the entire DC universe and starting again. So like the last 50+ years never happened. Every character is getting to start from scratch again and in doing so DC is taking the opportunity to change up the various heroes in ways. I don't know all of the ways things are going to change and nor do I particularly care (I've never been a big follower of comics in the first place, and for some reason even less so of DC's works.)

So everything that happened before... like Aquaman having a wife? Might never have happened. Which makes it a connection that only people who know the history would know. (Though this also applies to why I think Batman might be the logical choice... Makes my logic here a bit tenuous at best. Thankfully it's just a guess rather than hard fact.)

I'm not sure what would actually happen if they went ahead and made him (or virtually any superhero really ) gay. I honestly believe that for the most part people aren't going to care. I mean we live in 2012, Gay rights have progressed a long way in other countries (the US still lags behind here). For example in Canada, gay marriage was legalized in 2003 and most people don't even bat an eye anymore over it. And for years gay/lesbian US citizens have flocked to Canada so they can legally get married.


I think the only people that are going to put up a huge stink over it are going to be those who are extremely insecure about themselves. (Much like Hamlet's: " the lady doth protest too much" in that those who keep going on about how bad it is must be trying to hide that trait in themselves.)
Though I also think that those who protest are very much in the minority. It just happens to be a case of small but extremely vocal minority.

As for the reasoning for this change... I do believe it is because of the political atmosphere. Things are changing in the US, and comics want to be a part and reflect those changes. Though I also think this is a stunt to sell more comics. They hope that by making a character gay you'll have to buy all the books to find out which one.

It's hard to say right now how long this will last. Perhaps they'll get such a negative reaction they retcon it out of existence. Or maybe it'll be received positively and they'll keep the character that way for all their future incarnations. Though I think that largely the reaction will be the kind of story they tell and how people react to it rather than the sudden "<character> is gay" relevation.
But they do have to be careful because people could very easily go from reactions to them telling a crappy story which is why people really dislike the comic to people, especially members of the gay community, using it as some contrived justification for hating gay people. AKA the gay card... Sort of like how you see a very small portion of black people using the excuse "you're picking on me because I'm black" to try to get away with doing whatever they want when in reality they're not disliked or being picked on, they're just being expected to follow the same rules everyone else does.

[randomdrifter865]

Well even though we are long passed the hate of that sexual oreintation I still forsee problems because of the most hardcore elite ,but yes I honestly don't give a damn really. I like those heroes and heroines and wouldn't matter to me if Aquaman was gay or if Batman was Mexican ,but still I do forsee that their will be problems and people who are used to things the same way are not willing to give up what they love or know about said hero or heroine, but yes this could be a stunt and it doesn't surprise me really. Its like saying hey Batman and Wonder Woman made baby. Big fricken whoop really to me ,but I suppose it depends on who you ask I guess. I honestly don't care as much as the hardcore elite as long as I get to hear whats in the news and well get to discuss about it.

[VirusZero]

According to the latest rumour (that I've heard), the character going to be revamped is Green Lantern.

Except... not really.

Because the character they're revamping is Alan Scott. The original green lantern from the 1940's. (Before the Green Lantern Corps.) Not any of the real Green Lanterns that DC is actually known for (ex- Hal Jordan, John Stewart, etc...).


Source

So then, is this more of a stunt considering they didn't actually revamp a true prominent character? Would you have called Alan Scott a prominent character? Should people be upset if they use this character instead of more prominent characters?