Bonus! How Marvel executives were bullied into having the first gay superhero

Queer representation at Marvel has always been a push and pull. As an intern in the X-Men office in 2011, I was there the day the E-i-C came in and announced that we should have Northstar get married because same-sex marriage had been legalized in New York. I was also there, as an X-Men assistant editor in 2012/2013, when that same E-i-C threw a fit about the existence of a gay couple in another book I was working on. By all accounts things are quite a bit better now (under new leadership and with the passage of time), but I wouldn't be surprised if the pendulum swung again. What's important to remember, I think--and what your video makes clear--is that there are always people behind the scenes working as hard as they can to make the interventions that are in their power, even if that power is minimal.

Since we're talking about comics, this year's DC Pride has an amazing story by veteran writer Jenny Blake (fka Tony Isabella) about transitioning at 72. Seventy-two! It's an upbeat look back on how she navigated the 1950's onward feeling like a woman in disguise and found ways and people with whom to express it, leading directly to a career in superhero comics. Her life story fits right in with your videos on gay TV and movie artists. She finally transitioned both to be true to herself and defy today's violent transphobes. I highly recommend the comic. Jenny Blake Isabella could be her own video.

What's tragic about Northstar's coming out issue is it came out in 1992 when Marvel's house style was "screaming grimacing hairy steroidal men drawn by a ten year old." What's supposed to be a moving intimate tale is Northstar and a Mountie rage punching each other through walls. It's unreadable and put me off Marvel comics until the MCU! Northstar is in fact a dashing and stylish character and later writers and artists did him justice. Marjorie Liu gave him and Kyle Jinadu a beautiful engagement and wedding, and they're still one of Marvel's great couples.

Actually, the clock in the background also gives away that you're shooting late at night.

Three quick comments about some ancillary things as I don't really know anything about comics in general or Northstar specifically. 1. As a lifelong Canadian, I can indeed affirm that if you slap a maple leaf on something a Canadian will buy it. It's practically in our charter. 2. I always thought that X-men: The last stand got a bad rap. I actually prefer it to the first X-men movie. It was fun, and the idea of a "cure" for mutants was a potent one. Also, given that I'm not a comic fan, the whole "travesty of the dark phoenix saga" argument which seemed to be by far the most common one didn't really register with me. 3. Just bought my TIFF tickets last night and Gulliermo Del Toro's take on Frankenstein is one of the movies that I'm going to be attending. I'm super psyched to see how he is going to reinvent the story!

Leaving my first comment on the Patreon, and of course it’s comic book related… A couple of small corrections; You said Jim Shooter was the editor-in-chief in 1992 when Northstar came out. Jim Shooter left/was fired from Marvel in 1987, Tom DeFalco was in charge in 1992. Regarding Marvel “creating” Alpha Flight to get more Canadian reads. When John Byrne co-created the first version of Alpha Flight in the pages of the X-Men it was to fill in a plot hole from Giant Size X-Men #1 where the Canadian government “lent” Wolverine to Professor X for a mission… with him never returning Byrne pointed out that any government would demand their agent back or go get him. Byrne, being Canadian himself (immigrated at age 8 with his family from England), was concerned about the lack of Canadian superheroes. A few more X-men appearances later, John Byrne wanted to spin them off into their own book, develop the characters and have a true Canadian superhero team. So… while Marvel/Jim Shooter may have Green lite the book to draw in Canadian reads, their creation was from their co-creator wanting representation. Now the Jim Shooter “no gay superheroes” rule. I’ve always heard that too… did some digging this morning and could not find a “confirmed” source. But it’s been a “known” thing for decades. I think there is some truth and some exaggeration; The only two creators who have hinted at this rule have been John Byrne and Chris Claremont. Byrne for his not being able to be explicit about Northstar’s homosexuality. And Claremont for not being allowed to follow through with his original plan for the White Queen, having her be a transwoman (at the time he used transvestite, as they didn’t have the language we do now) and not being able to be upfront about Mystique and Destiny’s lesbian relationship. At face value, it seems Shooter was anti-queer. But the Comics Code Authority didn’t lift their LGBTQ ban until 1989, two years after Shooter was gone. So what it comes down to is that Shooter wasn’t willing to challenge to CCA on behalf of Claremont and Byrne, or willing to release X-Men (Marvel’s best selling book at the time) or Alpha Flight with the CCA stamp… as it would cut out all newsstand sales. Add on top of that Shooter got a LOT of shit (rightfully so) for a story he did in 1980 for the Hulk b&w magazine where a group of gay men try to rape Bruce Banner in the YMCA showers. The b&w magazines were not reviewed by the CCA and were sold in direct markets only. Mix these together, and 40 years of speculation and hearsay… and you get the “no gay superheroes” rumor

I'm pretty sure DC still had more queer characters before marvel. Grant Morrison created the most , starting with doom patrol in the late 80's, danny the street( transgender, and negative man/ woman/both. Along with others then the invisibles, bi man, bi woman transgender woman, ( lord fanny) Alan Moore, Constantine, ( possibly dc first openly queer character)bi who started in swamp thing. And Neil Gaiman sandman. Lesbians, gay men, and crossdressers and transgender women. They were in print with dc long before midnighter and Apollo came along. And those are just the ones I can remember, I'm sure there's more

Personally I think the third movie should be talked about at least a little, precisely because of the uncomfortable direction and implications it takes the metaphor, to have a discussion about how previously cristal-clear analogies are interpreted, changed, ignored or twisted in the worst way, which tends to happen often especially many times with this franchise; and I like your observations regarding that, like the video about the movie Cruising. But if it complicates or muddles too much the structure and thesis of your upcoming video I understand if you want to leave it out.

I want to pitch Marvel on a new superhero...Fleckman. A non binary, Jewish superhero whose power is to instantly come up with a snappy one-liner to diffuse any situation. Their everyday identity is running a day camp

I heard history repeated with Wiccan - the creative team wanted Wiccan and Hulkling to be a couple from the get go but upper management wouldn't allow it so they had to talk about it to media so they didn't get cut