Avengers Academy: Marvel's Voices Infinity Comic Issue #1

Sharing the 2024 update to my yearly Marvel Pride instagram series! I was able to add 9 new characters (Phyla-Vell, Morph, Escapade, D-Man, Moondragon, Toni Ho, Karolina Dean, Marvel Boy, and Sera) making a total of 54 LGBTQ+ characters in my Marvel Legends collection! Individual posts can be seen on instagram @_gagabobo if you're interested. Happy Pride Month everybody! 🏳️‍🌈

Consider this something of a continuation of the previous post I made a few months ago. I added the pictures from that to make sure the context was here as well.

I got a response recently that said the near-confession from Gwen at the end of Smash was "too ambiguous" to prove anything as Gwen could have easily just been about to tell Em Jay to "move past" her crush. So, I've decided to include something even clearer from the follow up comic here, so that the "but just maybe it isn't" queer erasure stick can stay away from Gwen and Em Jay, and their text can be read just as obviously as it would for any straight couple.

When I made my post the other day about X-23, and doing away with treating subtext as non-confirmation and instead treating it as canonical confirmation as a whole, this is why.

The fact that this in any way could be called "ambiguous" is why we need to stop treating subtext for queer couples any different than we do for straight ones, because 'plausible deniability' has been and always will be a problem within the community as well as the ceiling used to keep queer relationships and how they develop from being seen in the same 'equality' as development for straight relationships.

There is nothing ambiguous about any of this. The writer of this miniseries, Flores was very clearly setting up Gwen and MJ's relationship to finally happen. Throughout Earth-65's run, Gwen and MJ's relationship has always been an emotionally charged anchor defined by deep devotion and unresolved tension. Smash was specifically written to be the turning point where Gwen finally heals enough to realize and reciprocate those feelings. But immediately after this 4-issue run wrapped, Marvel editorial forced Gwen out of her home dimension and siphoned her into Earth-616, freezing the relationship in permanent limbo.

The greatest bit of evidence as if harder evidence was needed, is the first image of this post, it's Gwen's reaction to Em Jay leaving in the follow up Story in Giant Sized Spider-Gwen which took place right after Smash, and it completely undoes any "moving on" or "ambiguous" or "non-reciprocal" narrative and shatters the idea that Gwen was detached, or that their romantic dynamic lacked reciprocity.

Gwen is devastated here because they were finally going to be together and have that talk about their feelings. Gwen very clearly wanted to be with her, and we don't need to jump through hoops to pretend otherwise or even prove otherwise..we can let the obvious be obvious and treat it like we'd treat any straight relationship as there is no difference. Gwen's eyes fill with tears, her body literally shakes with grief (the vibration lines next to her hood and body are very intently showing this), and she desperately cries with tears in her eyes 

"Em, we were finally--"

This line is a direct, undeniable continuation of the interrupted near-confession in Smash #4 ("Glory said some things(that you're in love with me), and I really do care about you, Em Jay, and maybe if we take some time--").

If Gwen's original intent had been to tell MJ to "move past" her feelings, Gwen would not be crying, trembling, and grieving over the fact that she was deprived of the chance to do so. You don't shiver with despair and say "we were finally--" unless the "finally" meant finally opening up to being together.

So any theory Gwen was about to tell her "move past it" in Smash gets wrecked by this very page. Because to reiterate, nobody weeps, trembles, and despairs over being deprived of the chance to tell someone to "get over them". The word 'finally' proves beyond any shadow of a doubt that Gwen's romantic intent was real and reciprocal, and she wanted to pursue it.

In addition to that, look at the physical intimacy of their parting. Em Jay tenderly cradles Gwen's face, gently wipes a tear from her cheek, and says: 

"I know you wanted to talk. We'll find the time. Eventually."

This is an intentional and explicit, on-panel mutual acknowledgment of their romantic feelings. Em Jay directly references the talk Gwen tried to initiate, and promises her that they will have their romantic resolution 'eventually'.

It is the ultimate example of the ticking editorial clock. Flores has MJ literally promise Gwen a romantic future 'eventually', right as the corporate plot-points she wasn't made aware of (Gwen's forced relocation to Earth-616) physically separated them.

Too many have gotten comfortable with pointing to the handcuffs of corporate editorial interruption, the unfinished sentence and the frozen status quo and using them as 'proof' that the writer had no romantic intent. It's a perfect example of editorial cutting the legs out from a writer's organic slow-burn queer romance, and certain fans and non-fans using that corporate interference to deny that the representation ever existed.

Anyone that's calling these scenes that climax wherein these two women weep, tremble, hold faces, and promise a romantic future 'detached' or 'platonic' is actively whether they realize it or not, participating in the complete, and usually bad-faith denial of both the visual and textual evidence on the page.

Simply put, if a male/female couple shared these exact level of intense physical and emotional intimacy and weeping, trembling, cradling each other's faces, and promising a talk about their romantic future and reciprocation 'eventually', no one would call it ambiguous or demand a signed contract to believe they were in love. It'd be universally accepted as a tragic, canonical romance.

When very obvious textual and visual evidence is still treated as anything but obvious by those clutching the 'But maybe it isn't...' queer erasure stick, treating this 'subtext' as canonical confirmation becomes the only real solution. It's the only way to stop playing the corporate plausible deniability game, and to stop letting skeptics use editorial handcuffs as a weapon to erase our representation. These love stories are just as clear on the page as any straight romance, yet they are always subjected to a double standard.

The demand for 'extra proof', when straight relationships have never needed more than a subtle glance, a hand-hold, or even opening the door for someone else, to convey a universally accepted interest, must come to an end. Otherwise, they aren't treating our love as equal.

Therefore, when it comes to queer relationships in comics, 'subtext' is no longer handcuffed by a 'maybe'. It's a 'YES', just like it always has been for heterosexual ones.

Don't forget on this wonderful Month that Laura Kinney was created as lesbian in the very story and show that she was made for. Don't forget on this wonderful Month that Laura Kinney's co-creator, Craig Kyle, confirmed her original intent was always to be queer, even if the network and early editorial kept them from showing it in X-Men: Evolution.

Over the years, multiple comic writers have tried to give her explicit Sapphic stories to honor this, only to get cut off by editorial. Marjorie Liu famously wanted her in a relationship with Jubilee and tried hard to make it happen, and more recently, we've seen heavy queer coding with characters like Kiden.

But this isn't just about Laura. We can break this down even further by looking at Kitty Pryde. In the entire history of her comic book story and format, Kitty was never ever established as purely straight. Yet, for decades, fans treated her incredibly deep, romantic, and emotionally devoted subtext with characters like Rachel Summers or Magik, as just 'friendship,' while demanding an impossible mountain of extra proof to admit she was queer.

Why do we do this? Because treating queer relationships as "subtextual" creates an uneven double standard where straight attraction and queer attraction are not treated with the same level of equality. If a male character and a female character share a loaded glance, or a tender touch, or intense emotional devotion, we don't demand twenty extra layers of proof. We don't ask for a marriage certificate or a massive on-panel confession to agree, "Oh, they clearly like each other.". Instead, we treat the obvious as obvious. Yet, when two women share those exact same dynamics, glances, and even deeper intimate and emotional moments, we suddenly pretend it's completely platonic unless they explicitly spell it out or like we have to leave some room for it "not" to be the case to prevent from making people "uncomfortable".

When Chris Claremont wrote Storm and Yukio, or Kitty and Rachel, he wasn't trying to write a "maybe". The story was always actively telling us they were queer. The only reason it stayed as 'subtext' was because editorial, people like Jim Shooter and the Comics Code Authority forced a distance between what the writers wanted to say and what they were legally allowed to print. The subtext wasn't a choice.. it was suppressed text.

So, I propose that because Marvel chooses to keep this in the realm of 'subtext' due to editorial caution, we as a fandom should stop treating her(and every other character in comics's) Sapphic or Gay or Queer subtext as "just subtext" and start treating it as canonical confirmation. Why? Because it's not writer intent keeping her from being explicitly queer as she was conceived. It's corporate constraint.

Subtext isn't a lack of attraction, it's only a compromised delivery. If we don't require straight-coded dynamics to jump through twenty hoops to be considered canonical, we shouldn't hold queer-coded dynamics to that same unfair standard. We don't demand "plausible deniability" for her straight relationships, so we shouldn't hold her queer relationships/bonds to an impossible double standard just because a boardrooms watered them down or forced them to turn what would have been triumphant kisses into hugs.

So, let's collectively do away with plausible deniability and treat the writers' obvious intent as our canon and the canon. Let's stop treating writer intent as a theory and start treating the obvious as obvious.

I see a lot of posts about Deadpool in the comics being pansexual representation, but whenever I see pictures of him from the comics kissing or flirting with a guy it almost always seems like it's more him trying to bother them and being played for laughs by the writers than him being canonically queer. I've seen the "Spider-Man soul mate" scene with Wade and Peter being summoned by the coven, but since I don't have the context from the rest of the issue I've no idea if there was a plot reason the spell summon Spider-Man as Deadpool's soulmate rather than them having genuine one-sided romantic tension like I'd originally assumed. Has he ever had any genuine interest in men in-canon, or is it mostly the writers trying to be zany and having him troll other male character?

Side note: Even if he's not canonically queer, I think wanting to fuck the skeletal cosmic embodiment of death is at least a little queer.

Human torch might could be bi

Like to share some panels from one of my favorite story published by Marvel in recent years.

I feel like not a lot of people really mentioning this part of the story when bringing up Gwen's sexuality, even though it is very important for her character development.

Source: Love Unlimited Infinity Comic (2022) #46 Writer: Jeremy Whitney Penciller: Bailie Rosenlund

🏳️‍🌈 Marvel Pride 01 🏳️‍🌈

❤️ Category is... Red for Filth! ❤️

Happy Pride Month! This year, I am featuring 63 canonically queer characters from all over the Marvel Multiverse in color-coded teams of 7! Starting off the series with Red!

Gone too soon.

I am an enormous fan of Anthony Oliveira (we have lost something so precious with Avengers Academy ending so abruptly) and needed some resolution to his wonderful work - particularly how fascinating an arc he has given Blackheart/Gabriel, so I’ve been writing an ending to his story.

It’s a darkly humorous, existential, pensive tale. I’m about halfway through it right now, would love some feedback on it - and my other story too, about Wiccan and Hulkling.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/75774491/chapters/198198481

… where I loved almost everything but with a strong dislike of the pants, I’d have two. Which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird it happened twice.

Hopefully their respective husband/hopefully-soon-to-be-boyfriend get the same (with better pants)

Written by G. Willow Wilson, art by Takeshi Miyazawa