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As reported over the weekend, Dan DiDio told the Kapow! audience that, as part of the ongoing move towards diversity, an established DC character will be returning and changing sexual orientation.

It seems someone is switching teams…and we don’t mean going from the Justice League to the Justice Society.

So…WHO?

Despite what you’re thinking, it probably won’t be Batman. Everyone already knows Batman is gay.

Tim Drake would be a fan favorite, surely.

Will it be another safe, photogenic lesbian? Or a bear? Or Aquaman?

Man, the suspense…

1 COMMENT

  1. A lot of people are saying it will be Wally West, since it was strongly hinted it would be a character that hasn’t re-emerged yet. I still think that it won’t be Wally because after the way they’ve treated the character for the last 5 or so years, he’ll come back as a fanboy who writes Star Trek Fan Fic or something.

  2. I suppose it depends on how “established” is defined.

    I think it’ll probably be Roy Raymond, TV Detective. Or maybe Captain Compass.

  3. I’m betting it’s Darkseid. Not that cross-dressing is any indication of sexual orientation of course. His blue mini-skirt and leather thigh boots could just be how all space gods dress.

  4. I guess I will be the first to say I think this is a huge mistake. This is not the creating of a great character who is also gay…this is (since I most likely agree it will be Tim Drake) the changing of a known and loved character’s sexual orientation for the sake of either forced social change or worse, shock value.

    When Batwoman was brought back and was announced as a gay character it shocked some, but for the most part the character hadn’t been used in the DCU on any kind of consistant basis for the last 20 to 30 years.
    Batwoman was brought back with the specific intent of inserting a mainstream gay character into the fold (with the Bat brand backing her no less) so that DC could lead the way with a major gay character unlike any other in comics – which they did. Most other gay characters are at best fringe or third tier or lower characters in my opinion, I’m sure someone would disagree, but I don’t look at Hulkling, Northstar, The New Question or the like and see a truly big name character, certainly not one who could carry their own title.

    Back to Batwoman – gay or not – she is a fantastic character and one of the few I think worth reading in what I think was a pointless and worthless relaunch by DC. But I like the character for the same reason I like people in general – all of her fine qualities – her humanity, her toughness, her tenaciousness, beauty, etc. Gay or not, Batwoman is worth reading, worth knowing and following as a character. And there’s the rub.
    If you take a character like Tim Drake or the like and suddenly make them gay you are clearly not being true to the character. Drake has been a character in the DCU for over 20 years now – and to the best of my knowledge he has never once shown anything but an interest in girls and woman. In 20 years of storytelling he’s been heterosexual – period.
    So if now (and I do realize he is supposedly a NEW character, just like everyone else in the NEW 52) you ceremoniously OUT him you are betraying the trust of readers who have followed the character for that duration. This would be no different than suddenly taking a character like Wonder Woman and suddenly making her Jewish, or Christian. Or making Batman a gun toting Punisher type. Or making Green Arrow a Republican. It’s out of character and character means something. It’s what draws readers in – great characters. You can’t take a great character and suddenly change them from their core for the sake of shock or social change.
    A better story (Which, storytelling has not been the strong point of either DC or Marvel over the last decade so maybe I’m shooting to far here to expect this) would have been take the social change you want to make a statement about and interject that into your stories. Change the story, not the character.

    Have Tim Drake with a friend who is bullied because they are gay and he takes it into his hands to stop it or a friend who wants to marry their partner but can’t and Tim comforts them while thinking about how in a country of ultimate freedom we still don’t allow the basic of freedoms to some people.

    An entire generation knows Tim Drake. You don’t change him for the sake of social change – it’s not right to us who have invested so much into the character.

    DC (and Marvel) should have the guts to create a brand new gay or lesbian character and show him and her off to the world instead of taking a brand name character and changing them for the sake of publicity or social pandering. If the character is well written it will find an audience, gay or not. Better still, keep their sexual orientation a secret so as to keep people guessing – stir the debate – make people wonder if he or she is or isn’t gay or lesbian. Contrary to the world notion that everyone is an open book now, some people still like privacy. Gay or straight, you don’t have to reveal your world to everyone around you. A little mystery in life goes a long way.

    Regardless, I’m all for great characters, gay or otherwise, but not at the sake of rewriting or destroying a character’s history.

    It’s wrong, and worse, it’s poor storytelling – and if comics hope to survive in print form they need great stories much more than social change.

  5. On another note – if DC really wanted to make a splash why not OUT A MAJOR VILLAIN??

    Or create a gay character and make them the ultimate bad guy or gal.

    This will never happen as it would be viewed as gay bashing. Right now gays and lesbians can only be portrayed as good guys or compassionate characters. I can’t think of one TV show, movie or other source of media out there that has a gay villain, can you?

    If DC wants to make a real splash they should create a gay villain with power on par with Superman or Hulk.

    Since they would end up changing a name character before creating a new one under this highly unlikely circumstance why not the Riddler? Or Toyman. Or the Reverse Flash who secretly has a thing for Barry Allen all while trying to destroy him?

    Might make for a great story, but it will never happen…

  6. Well said, Thomas Wayne, but you’re asking DC/Marvel to be creative, and they’re anything but that anymore. Reboot to tell old stories again to a new audience, or switch the name of a past event around for a new one with the same basic idea: two teams fight each other.

  7. Why is it “turning gay”? Why can’t the character just be “gay”?
    It’s annoying when people say “turning gay”, like it’s a vampiric disease.

  8. I’m seeing a lot of people speculating that it’s Tim Drake. That goes against the whole statement made by Didio. He says an established character that will be “re-introduced” to the new52. As far as semantics goes, Tim Drake has already been re-introduced.

  9. If you really want to do this right bring Lord Fanny into DCnU continuity. Rather than making a character gay whatever the hell that means. Why not do a character that is inherently transgender or gay or whatever. That is really compelling. Making a character gay just sounds cosmetic like changing the color of their costume. Come on blow me away for once make the character live, like Lord Fanny. I would go back to DC for that…..

  10. I don’t see the problem with it being Tim Drake, the character is 16,17? It’s perfectly normal for someone not to consider the possibilities until they hit their twenties or even older – even then they could simply make him Bisexual, it’s no big deal.

  11. It will not be Tim Drake for the reasons that CagedLeo offers. But also because the vast and/or loud network of DC fangirls allt hink that Tim should be gay, and DC’s official policy on this network is to deny it exists and do the opposite of what they want to see.

    Thomas Wayne: I believe the Tyrese character in Death Race 2000 was gay and sort of a villian…well, he was an antagonists but at the end he and Jason Stathem;s character sat down for a hearty lunch so not really a villain. This character and Val Kilmer in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang are among the very rare examples of a gay male character in a genre film.

    Speaking of KISS KISS BANG BANG, Shane Black is making Iron Man 3! Great hopes.

  12. The smart thing to do – not change an established character’s orientation for short-term cheap & tawdry PR. But – this is THE NEW 52 we’re talking about, so smarts don’t much enter into it.

    So – the logical thing to do would be to pick a character who is already a household word (to maximize the tawdry) but good heavens, NOT AN ICON!! Better a long-term supporting character (Alfred) or villain (Luthor). Still – this is THE NEW 52 we’re talking about, so logic don’t much enter into it.

    You KNOW it’s gonna be somebody fairly inconsequential – like Tim Drake or Zatanna – either one is already tailor-made. And then, THE NEW 52 will pat itself on the collective back for being oh so daring & innovative.

    Quite frankly, if it were up to me, I’d make it Barry Allen – just to see Hal squirm.

  13. As a gay person, I can assure you, just as one does not simply walk into Mordor, one does not simply “turn” gay. It’s rather insulting to imply that, actually.

    Still, to “out” a major character would make fun reading for me. I love Batwoman – not for the fact that she’s gay, but for the fact that she’s bitchen. She’s tough, she’s smart, she’s beautiful – great! She hasn’t, so far, fallen prey to the usual crutch of simply being shrill and bitchy (which is what usually passes for “strong woman character” – ugh). I love that. As much as I hope it’s Power Girl (that would be AWESOME!), since DC already has a great lesbian superhero, I am betting on a guy.

    A lot of speculation about Tim Drake, but I really don’t hope for that. I guess we’ll see. It’ll probably be as disappointing and pointless as most of the rest of the New 52.

  14. Actually, Lew Stringer has a good point: It’s probably Darkseid.

    He’s clearly more into fashion & weight-lifting as of late.

  15. I’m goin’ for Superman here. Or maybe Batman. Both, really. And Wonder Woman. All of ’em gay. Gay, gay, gay.

    Come to think of it, superheroes are pretty gay. All those foppy artists are pretty darn gay as well. And news blogs – totally gay. Heidi is definitely gay.

  16. There were quite a few new characters teased in the Free Comic Book Day “Trinity War” gatefold.

    Black Adam?
    The figure to the left of Aquaman (looks like a Ravager)
    Ms. Metamorpho / Element Girl (wait a minute… did they retcon Sandman?)
    Atom
    Kick Ass, I mean, John Stewart
    The Atom

    Given the hunger games going on in The Culling, it will probably be one of The Ravagers. DC usually tries to use an Event to launch a new character, and this mini-event would be a good place to do it… lots of young superheroes, some barely introduced. It would add to the team dynamic.

    Perhaps Fairchild? Beast Boy? Terra?

  17. Just don’t turn Batman gay; it would completely destroy the character. He’s supposed to be dour all the time.

  18. I’m betting on someone considered in someway sexually non-threatening. They’ve gone the photogenic lesbian route (but seriously, I love Batwoman, I’m happy we have her, thanks very much), I’m betting this time they go the Ian MacKellen route. A fatherly gentleman, old enough not to be scary.

    Alfred? Is that you?

  19. (Wait, Aquaman isn’t already supposed to be gay?)

    Isn’t a rebooted Justice Society about to show up with all of its members getting new (angsty) origins? It’ll probably be one of them.

  20. It’s interesting that some people think that this is something new that DC has never done before. There are 2 examples from the old DCU: Renee Montoya (Question) and Todd Rice (Obsidian). Both started off straight and were later turned gay. Don’t know if there was a big fuss back then but those 2 have been good role models for gay people (they have problems like anyone else, be it alcoholism or depression).

  21. It’ll be one of the JSA characters being reintroduced in Earth-2, which gives us dozens of possibilities. James Robinson has a habit of including glbt characters in his team books.

    If they want to make it interesting, have it be the Spectre. Leave Jim Corrigan as his mortal host, have him be closeted in his mortal career as a cop, and keep the Spectre as the incarnation of the Judeo-Christian God’s vengeance on Earth. The story possibilities are endless!

  22. >> I’m betting this time they go the Ian MacKellen route. A fatherly gentleman, old enough not to be scary.>>

    I suppose Josiah Power, who debuted back in 2002, might fit that bill. He’s not elderly by real-world standards (he’s in his 50s), but he’s a generation or so older than most DC heroes.

    But I did intend for him to be scary. Not because he’s gay, but because he’s dangerous and powerful.

  23. As I said on the Bendis board–

    It HAS to be ‘Haunted Tank’.

    Now DC can wade into the very touchy “gays in the military” issue without offending anyone!

    By making the Haunted Tank gay, DC is going to show us sensitive stories of how many soldiers can fit inside it’s orifice.

    Oh Haunted Tank, we’re so glad you finally had the courage to come out….

  24. First of all it can’t be any of the big three on Earth 2 because if you have read the book then you know… If they want to make an impact then he/she won’t be on Earth 2… The Ravagers might be a new debuting title but it is unlikely because they aren’t high profile enough… Has anyone considered Superboy? He is new to the world and probably doesn’t know the conventions… But if I was going to put my money on it… I would say THE ATOM… He’s always been around, mainstream character but never broke out… Johns does like revamping characters and making them more current… ATOM is due for a change… Oh, just for kicks maybe it is VIBE he was in the New 52 Free Comic Day Special…

  25. Beat said:

    “I believe the Tyrese character in Death Race 2000 was gay and sort of a villian…well, he was an antagonists but at the end he and Jason Stathem;s character sat down for a hearty lunch so not really a villain. This character and Val Kilmer in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang are among the very rare examples of a gay male character in a genre film.”

    In some interview Barry Smith claimed that DAREDEVIL foe Starr Saxon was intended to be a gay villain, even though the only signifier was that Saxon was very, very dramatic.

    ” It will not be Tim Drake for the reasons that CagedLeo offers. But also because the vast and/or loud network of DC fangirls allt hink that Tim should be gay, and DC’s official policy on this network is to deny it exists and do the opposite of what they want to see.”

    And that’s very foolish of DC, because we all know that fans should totally control everything the companies do. It’s worked out really well in the past, hasn’t it?

  26. >>>And that’s very foolish of DC, because we all know that fans should totally control everything the companies do. It’s worked out really well in the past, hasn’t it?

    Gene for once we agree. DC seems to do as well by angering The Fangirl Rampage gang, for lack of a better term, who seem hellbent on buying all these comics they don’t like every month to see if they changed. I forget the name for this psychological phenomena, but I’ll call it the Howard Stern Principle — back when Stern was on the air, people who didn’t like his show listened to it longer than people who did like it.

  27. If it isn’t Batman or Superman, then DiDio is simply wasting his time with this latest desperation at diverting attention away from Marvel.

  28. It will be Alan Scott. the character will come out of the closet next month, dc has said it will be a guy, and since the character is being “reintroduced” Alan Scott seems to be the front runner

  29. I’m thinking, pretty high profile, but not important enough to really affect things, one way or the other. So, either Tin of the Metal Men, or Ambush Bug. Quite possibly the White Feather from Inferior Five, ‘coz let’s face it, he was always MOST afraid of girls.

  30. We need transgender. Try to imagine the JLA with Lord Fanny right next to Superman. Conservative America would have a coronary. New DCU? That would smash the chessboard.

  31. Honestly, I don’t thing DC Editorial have given this as much thought as assorted comic book-related forums are in their currently dissecting. I think Didio got a bit trapped in an interview and threw out the initial tease, and now some at DC may be squirming over how fixated the blogosphere has become.

  32. Sometimes I think the PR wars between Marvel and DC are more interesting then some of the comics they are putting out.

  33. If either Marvel or DC wanted to do a storyline about sexual identity that had substance to it, compared to simply introducing characters as gay or lesbian, they could, for example, put the members of the Justice League, the Avengers, or any small number of heroes through a gender changer. Men being changed into women would be the natural route to take. Then have the nu-women deal with the consequences of the sex change. Suggest that for some of the heroes, the sex change will be long-lasting or permanent.

    Such a storyline might be better suited for prose than comics, because of all the internal dialogue and contemplation, but it would be meatier than any hero vs. villain conflict could be.

    SRS

  34. Over at CBR they have a little bit of new information – DiDio followed up the first announcement with this one…

    “One of the major iconic DC characters will reveal that he is gay in a storyline in June,” Courtney Simmons, DC Entertainment’s senior vice president of publicity, confirmed to ABC News following the weekend revelation by Co-Publisher Dan DiDio that the formerly heterosexual figure will become “one of our most prominent gay characters.”
    With those 18 words, Simmons drastically narrows the list of candidates, eliminating such popular guesses as Vibe (he’s neither a major character nor an iconic one) and Hawkgirl (she’s a … she). However, Simmons’ quote also raises the question of just what DC considers “major” and “iconic.”

    So…what does DC define as ICONIC??? CBR goes on to a few guesses, including some speculation on one of my thoughts yesterday, a gay villain….

    We’re now looking for a major iconic male character who’s not appeared since DC’s linewide relaunch last August. But … we’re not necessarily holding out for a hero. Note that neither Simmons nor (apparently) DiDio said “superheroes”; they said “characters.”

    From their the writer at CBR speculates Ra’s Al Ghul…which again, to me, is wrong changing a character that’s been around for decades that has obviously had relations with women for years as well…Talia would not exist in the DCU if Ra’s didn’t have some affection for women. Someone better sit down and have a long talk with Damian Wayne…
    Again, I just don’t understand why the need to change an established characters sexual orientation…why not just create a new, solid, gay character?? Like I said yesterday, if someone decided that we need a transgendered character – do we set Aquaman up for pre-op so we can now have AquaWoman? Would DC make Superman a Muslim? How about Green Lantern as a bi-sexual? DC is totally hypocritical about all of this..because thy took arguably their strongest female character, who has spent over the last twenty years in a wheel chair and gave her her mobility back. Why? There where like 42 Batgirls running around at the time this decision was made…why take your strongest and most important female character and change her into something she wasn’t?
    Apparently their need for diversity extends to alternative lifestyles but not the handicapped.

  35. Again, I just don’t understand why the need to change an established characters sexual orientation…why not just create a new, solid, gay character??

    One reason is that new characters often aren’t accepted by readers. Another reason is that being gay or lesbian doesn’t really have much effect on how a person goes about his day-to-day life, so how many dramatic possibilities are there, aside from romance or encountering prejudice?

    SRS

  36. SRS,
    I really don’t think the “new characters often aren’t accepted by readers” concept works here.

    Case in point, KEVIN KELLER over at Archie. Archie comics are, generally speaking, far more wholesome and conservative than super hero comics, and they had very little problem introducing a new, fresh from the creator’s mind gay character that seems to be widely accepted.

    DC and Marvel couldn’t do this??? Imagine if Archie had been outed, he and Jughead are a couple or Betty and Veronica as a couple or so on…it’s unecessary and out of character. Fan’s would have been outraged. The character’s have been established for decades, so why change for the sake of change, shock value and/or social pandoring? Archie Comics did it right. If a character is good it will work without the drastic changes.

    This falls into the same vein as the Miles Morales character at Marvel – They chose to make him Spiderman as opposed to giving him his own identity. Why? Is the character not strong enough for his own identity? If he’s not, why bother creating him. The only reason is to shock readers into a sales spike, becaue if the writers really believed in social change or minority characters you don’t make the create the same character over again and simply give him a different skin color.

    I think Marvel and DC should look at how Archie and his buddies at Riverdale are handling things. A new (gay) character that stands on his own without strip mining the past or another characters creative history for the sake of appearing socially diverse.

    And that’s the key here, DC and Marvel don’t really care if they are socially diverse, the just want to appear that way – otherwise Mr. Terrific and Static Shock would not have been cancelled after 8 issues and Barbara would still be in her wheel chair.
    I get more pissed everytime I think about that last one – Barbara Gordon as Oracle is ten times the character that her Batgirl is.

  37. I really don’t think the “new characters often aren’t accepted by readers” concept works here.

    I see the problem with characters in superhero comics, specifically, as being that editors see introducing a character as gay or lesbian to be sufficient. For comics readers who identify with or idolize the characters they see, that might be sufficient. In BATWOMAN, Williams is doing a good job handling Kate Kane, but her love interest, Maggie Sawyer, also happens to be in law enforcement. That simplifies things considerably for the writer.

    Gay or lesbian characters are better in stories when they’re fully developed characters. You might have heard that Mitt Romney’s gay spokesman on national security and foreign policy issues, Richard Grenell, resigned. The Republican base reportedly hated him. Romney’s refusal to face down the base raises questions about Romney’s fitness to be president, IMO, and also raises questions as to why gays who deal with prejudice would support Republicans, or identify themselves as Republicans, when so much of the base hates them for being gay and won’t even allow them to be legally married. A work of political fiction which deals with such issues would be more rewarding to write and to read, IMO, than stories about a superhero who is adorned with a label.

    The Archie comics have advantages over Marvel and DC in that their stories can deal with real-life issues, at least in passing, even if the emphasis is usually on humor.

    SRS

  38. why do u guys think its gonna be a girl? it says “he”. my bet is on booster gold. they did say reintroduce the character.

  39. I think that Bunker didn’t get the buzz they wanted and now they are switching an “established” character to get the hype machine going. And Marvel is stealing their thunder with Northstar’s wedding. DC unfortunately seems to think bits of buzz will cover up what a mess the relaunch is turning into.

  40. my guess is it will be someone who stars in a padded-out-for-trade 6 part arc that has some good art that gets crippled by the third issue by a switch from a solid art team to a penciller and whatever three inkers they can get.

  41. “my guess is it will be someone who stars in a padded-out-for-trade 6 part arc that has some good art that gets crippled by the third issue by a switch from a solid art team to a penciller and whatever three inkers they can get.” Everyone who manages a comic book project these days know that inkers aren’t really needed anymore if the deadline is short enough. Painstakingingly painterly coloring can make up for rough looking graphite.

  42. I want to commend The Beat for picking the panel at the top. Hilarious!

    And I’m guessing The Atom, Ray Palmer edition. They won’t want to bring back Jean Loring as his wife, as she was a murderer in “Identity Crisis,” so why not give him a fresh start?

  43. Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy…yeah ok, they’re not heroes in any way but Ivy seriously needs to get out of the closet and Harley needs to stop fawning over Mr J who’s just gonna beat her up and leave her to rot in arkham at the first sign of b-man anyway.

    As for Batman, he’s not gay, he just don’t care about relationships and sex. He has one drive in life, damning himself to a life of loneliness and torment in order to focus on keeping gotham and it’s residents safe is a small price to pay in his mind.

    I vote that mr. Mxyzptlk turns gay,