Queer Superhero History: Queering the Multiverse

It’s time for another installment of Queer Superhero History, where we look back at queer characters in mainstream superhero comics, in (roughly) chronological order, to see how the landscape of LGBTQ+ rep in the genre has changed over time. Today: Colossus, Angel, Sunfire, and Black Cat!

Well, sort of.

We’ve reached the early 2000s in our rough timeline through queer rep in superhero comics, and if you look back at previous articles, you may notice a discrepancy between the Big Two. By the turn of the 21st century, DC had over a dozen canonically queer characters, more if you count imprints like Vertigo and WildStorm. Marvel, meanwhile, had…Northstar. Plenty of coding, yes, but their explicit queer rep was practically nonexistent.

With the new century, Marvel started to experiment more with including queer characters, but in a lot of these instances, they hedged their bets. While they would both introduce new queer characters to their main universe (the 616 universe) in the next few years and reveal previously existing characters to be queer, they also decided to make a number of prominent characters queer…in other universes. You know, over there, in that universe.

Ultimate Colossus

Marvel launched the Ultimate imprint in 2000 as an onboarding ramp for new readers who were daunted by the decades of continuity they had to wade through in Marvel’s regular comics. One of the members of the Ultimate X-Men lineup was Colossus, a.k.a. Peter Rasputin, a Russian mutant who can turn his skin into technoorganic steel. Colossus had been around in the regular Marvel universe Giant-Size X-Men #1 (May 1975) by Len Wein and Dave Cockrum, and had always been portrayed as straight, with several romantic relationships with women over the years.

There were hints relatively early in Ultimate X-Men that that would not be the case in this universe. In #18 (July 2002, written by Mark Millar), it’s mentioned that his favorite TV show is Will & Grace. (For my younger readers: this was the first prime-time American show to star gay characters; it was massively influential in normalizing queerness in mainstream pop culture. No straight teenage boy would have admitted it was his favorite show in 2002.) Notably, this happens during a conversation about Peter trying to assimilate back into a normal life in Russia (“What’s wrong with wanting a normal life like everybody else?”). A few issues later, in #21, he playfully describes Cyclops as having “outstanding, chiseled cheekbones.”

The subtext ramped up a couple years later, during Brian K. Vaughan’s tenure as writer. In #47, the X-Men rescue this universe’s version of Northstar, who immediately asks if Peter is single; Peter instinctively shifts to his metal form, adorably embarrassed. Over the next year and a half, other characters explicitly speculate on Peter’s sexuality, while Peter himself displays continued interest in Jean-Paul. Finally, in #65 (January 2006), Peter accepts Jean-Paul’s invitation to Homecoming, confirming what had been teased at that point for nearly four years.

Unfortunately, Peter’s sexuality over the next year or so is predominantly shown through the lens of Nightcrawler being homophobic towards him, though we do see occasional glimpses of his relationship with Jean-Paul. Towards the end of the series, it’s revealed that though Peter’s mutant power allows him to turn into metal, he uses a power-enhancing drug called Banshee to give him accompanying super strength. In a story that has not aged well, Jean-Paul is kidnapped by the drug-abusing team the Acolytes, Peter and some other X-Men take more power-enhancing drugs to rescue him, Jean-Paul becomes paralyzed from the waist down (because of drugs), and everyone learns that drugs are bad. Just say no, kids!

Given the deliberate edginess of both the Ultimate universe and the 2000s as a whole, Peter being a drug addict who gets kicked out of his father’s house for being gay and is later rejected by his best friend for the same reason is honestly getting off pretty light. And making a major X-Man queer, even in an alternate universe, was a big deal for Marvel, and I appreciate that it’s largely tasteful. On the other hand, it’s also extremely timidly done, and despite being together for three years, Peter and Jean-Paul are barely allowed to touch each other on panel, and certainly not to kiss. (The series was canceled six months before Rictor and Shatterstar’s groundbreaking kiss in X-Factor #45.)

In any event, despite looking like a Tom of Finland character most of the time, other versions of Colossus have remained firmly (officially) straight.

1602 Angel

Marvel 1602 was a 2003 miniseries set in—you guessed it—1602. I do want to note that it was written by Neil Gaiman, and my disclaimer about Gaiman still stands; I’m discussing his work solely because of its historical import and not to deny or obfuscate the allegations against him.

Warren Worthington III is Angel, one of the founding members of the X-Men (who debuted in X-Men #1 (September 1963) by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby). In 1602, mutants are persecuted as “witchbreed” by the Spanish Inquisition. Warren (“Werner” in this universe) is rescued by the other original X-Men, led by Professor X (“Carlos Javier”) and including a boy called “John Grey,” i.e. Jean Grey in extremely unconvincing drag. A love triangle develops between Werner, “John,” and Cyclops (“Scotius”), much as one did in the original Silver Age X-Men comics.

“At least here, among ourselves, friend John, there is no need, ever, to hide,” Werner tells Jean earnestly during a charged interaction in issue #3. Later, in #5, Werner complains: “I am tired of looking like something I am not. I am sick of this pretense. And you, lad? How are you?” “Very much the same,” “Jean replies.

However, when Jean overexerts herself in battle and lies dying in #7, Scotius realizes that despite all his seeming double entendres, Werner has absolutely no idea that Jean is a girl. (Jean specifically asks Javier to let her die as a woman, which is why I’m interpreting her as a ciswoman crossdressing to survive rather than trans in this story, but other interpretations are certainly available.) Interestingly, this doesn’t change the love triangle in any way. Jean dies, and Werner mourns “the boy that I had wanted so to believe in. I imagined them all laughing at me. I wondered if they understood my shame.”

And in case that was too ambiguous for some readers, in the final issue, Scotius apologizes for his jealousy…and Werner tells him not to, because his interpretation was accurate: “I was truly deceived, and thought that Jean Grey was a man. But I do believe I was in love with that young man.”

Like Colossus, Angel has continued to be depicted as straight in 616.

Earth-2109 Sunfire (Mariko Yashida)

This character is a combination of two different characters from the 616 universe. The original Sunfire was Shiro Yoshida, a superhero with flame-based powers who debuted in X-Men #64 (January 1970) by Roy Thomas and Don Heck, and occasionally allied with the X-Men. Later, in Uncanny X-Men #173 (February 1979) by Chris Claremont and John Byrne, his cousin Mariko Yashida was introduced as a tragically unattainable love interest for Wolverine and reluctant yakuza crime boss.

On Earth-2109, however, Mariko was the one with the mutant powers. She first appears in Exiles #2 (September 2001) by Judd Winick and Mike McKone as a member of the titular team, a group of dimension-hopping heroes, all from different universes. At first she doesn’t get to do much but wear skimpy outfits for contrived reasons and be “funnily” sexually harassed by her teammate Morph, but in issue #11 (May 2002), she opens up about her past, telling Morph that she doesn’t get along with her parents because she’s a lesbian and they don’t approve. Morph then apologizes for the relentless sexual harassment, as if it would have been okay if she liked dudes. (He does not, however, stop with the relentless sexual harassment. Sigh.)

In #21, the team travels to yet another universe where Mariko meets an alternate version of Mary Jane Watson who is a) Spider-Woman and b) queer. The two of them are clearly attracted to each other, but the Exiles, who have no control over their dimension-hopping, move on. However, in #34, Mariko is returned to Mary Jane’s universe and they decide to date, even though they know Mariko may disappear at any time. (Unlike Peter and Jean-Paul in Ultimate X-Men, they do actually get to kiss on-page, multiple times.) Sure enough, after six weeks, Mariko is teleported out of that universe, to both women’s mutual heartbreak.

Unfortunately, Mariko wouldn’t have long to grieve. In #37 (January 2004), she’s buried under rubble while saving civilians during a superhero fight and suffocates. Though it’s a heroic beat, the triple punch of Women in Refrigerators, Bury Your Gays, and killing off the only remaining character of color on the team is, uh…not great. (The other character of color had already been killed off. Sigh again.)

The 616 versions of Sunfire and Mariko (the latter of whom was also very famously killed, although she returned a few years ago) are both still straight, as is 616’s Mary Jane.

MC2 Black Cat…and Regular Black Cat

The MC2 universe is an alternate future of the 616 universe, set about 15 years in the future. Its longest-running title was Spider-Girl, starring “Mayday” Parker, the daughter of Spider-Man and Mary Jane Watson. All of Spider-Man’s cohort are middle-aged in this series, including Felicia Hardy, a.k.a. Black Cat, a cat burglar and antihero who debuted in Amazing Spider-Man #194 (July 1979) by Marv Wolfman and Dave Cockrum and who has historically been antagonist, ally, and love interest to Spider-Man.

In the MC2 universe, Felicia married Flash Thompson and had two kids before divorcing him. She then started dating a woman named Diana, as revealed in Spider-Girl #47 (July 2002), written by Ron Frenz and Tom DeFalco. Felicia’s relationship with Diana is a very, very minor element in the series and Diana shows up in only a handful of issues, but it’s a rare example of an older character and a parent being depicted as queer.

Unlike the rest of the characters on this list, though, Felicia’s queerness is not solely limited to an alternate universe. In Spider-Man/Black Cat: The Evil That Men Do #1 (August 2002) written by Kevin Smith and set in the 616 universe, she thinks “It’s been too long since I’ve had a boyfriend…or a girlfriend, for that matter…” The timing is noteworthy: Felicia’s bisexuality was confirmed in the MC2 universe only a month before it was confirmed in 616, but comics lead times are tight enough that it was almost certainly a coincidence and not Smith following in DeFalco’s footsteps.

At any rate, it took nearly 20 years for Felicia’s sexuality to be referenced again in 616, in a couple of solo series both written by Jed MacKay. In Black Cat #10 (May 2020), she’s shown as a teen in a flashback holding hands with another thief-in-training, Tamara Blake. A year later, in Black Cat #3 (April 2021), a dream sequence of all her past lovers features multiple women, including Tamara. In #7 (August 2021), she shares a kiss with Odessa Drake, leader of the Thieves Guild, with the implication that they will spend the night together; she was also featured in that year’s Pride special, and has appeared on Pride covers and inside Pride specials in subsequent years.

Looking at chatter in blog comments and on Reddit around these moments, it’s clear that many fans didn’t know that Felicia has technically been canonically queer since 2002, which isn’t a huge surprise. After all, Spider-Girl ended in 2006, and The Evil That Men Do is, uh, not beloved. Still, I appreciate that Felicia is finally being recognized and spotlighted as a queer character, after over two decades of quiet neglect.

One thing that can be hard to balance when looking back at these historical developments is recognizing both progress and flaws at the same time. From the perspective of 2026, these characters can feel like half measures, a way to introduce queer characters without affecting the IP value of the “real” versions. It’s also worth noting that the characters chosen, at least on the X-Men side of things, were not ones that were necessarily strongly associated with queer subtext like Iceman or Shadowcat, and thus arguably “safer.” And they aren’t free from problematic tropes, like Angel and Sunfire’s stories ending in tragedy.

But for a company that had so few queer characters to begin with, progress was progress. I first read 1602 over a decade after it came out and was still floored by how Werner’s storyline concluded. Mariko and Mary Jane were shown kissing multiple times in 2003 when Harley and Ivy would still be censored in 2017. These characters might have been baby steps, but they were important steps nonetheless.

Like I said earlier, Marvel would incorporate queer characters into their 616 universe throughout the 2000s, via both new and established characters, including some major fan favorites. And the “queer in an alternate universe” trend wouldn’t end with the decade (trust me, someday we’ll talk about Earth-12025 Wolverine at great length). But the increasingly queer multiverse of the early 2000s is worth highlighting, and appreciating for how it paved the way for an increasingly queer 616…eventually.