An unnamed character from DC comics will officially come out of the closet in a future issue, the company has announced.
The comic book giant includes iconic superheroes such as Batman and Robin, Superman, and Wonder Woman.
“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, told ABC news.
The move comes as a surprise as co-publisher Dan DiDio previously announced there would not be changes to the sexual orientations of existing superheroes but a new one would be created instead.
However, at Kapow Comic Convention in London on Sunday, he announced that a character assumed to be straight would become “one of our most prominent gay characters.”
Senior VP Sales Bob Wayne explained that DiDio’s views “had evolved,” a reference to U.S. President Barack Obama’s recent endorsement of same-sex marriage.
“DC and Marvel are recognizing that there is an LGBT audience that has been reading their comics for years,” said Matt Kane, associate director of entertainment and media for GLAAD. “When creating these fictional worlds it’s important to show the full diversity.”
There has been much speculation online which character would be reintroduced as gay, with some predicting it would be Batman or his male associate Robin.
By Sim Guk-by
Intern Reporter
(simgukby@heraldcorp.com)
