X-Men stars in Marvel's first gay wedding.
American publisher breaks taboos again and announces the marriage of the mutant Northstar to a human in issue #51 of the magazine.
João Novaes _Opera Mundi Twenty years after Marvel Comics surprised readers by revealing that one of its superheroes, the Canadian Northstar (of Alpha Flight and later the X-Men), was gay, the American publisher is breaking taboos again and announcing the character's marriage to Kyle, his longtime boyfriend – who doesn't have superpowers. This is the first gay marriage involving a superhero from the publisher.
The event is featured on the cover of issue #51 of "Astonishing X-Men" (published in Brazil by Panini), one of the publisher's most traditional titles (alternative cover shown), and will hit newsstands in the US on the 20th. The story is written by Marjorie Liu and illustrated by Mike Perkins.
It also offers a version with an alternative cover that features a blank space for the reader to place a photo of their own ceremony, alongside a photo album of grand weddings of the publisher's heroes (many of which, it's true, have already ended).
It is also noteworthy that the couple is the target of triple prejudice. After all, in addition to being discriminated against for being gay, Northstar (whose civilian name is Jean-Paul Beaubier) and Kyle also suffer prejudice for being, respectively, a mutant and black.
"When gay marriage became legal in New York State, and most of our superheroes reside here, obviously a number of questions were raised. Northstar is the first openly gay character in mainstream comics and has a long-standing relationship with his boyfriend Kyle. So the question that arose was: how would this transform their relationship?" said Axel Alonso, Marvel's editor-in-chief, in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine.
"Our magazines are always the best at responding to and reflecting real-world advancements. We've been doing this for decades, and this (story) is just the latest demonstration of that," says Alonso.
Screenwriter Marjorie Liu emphasizes that the important thing about the publication is that it's not just a comic book, but primarily a message: "You can do the same."