ABSTRACT

Current representations of gay male superheroes miss an opportunity to adequately provide positive representation to gay youth by following a heteronormative framework that promotes further marginalization. One possible solution would be to have more gay individuals writing the gay character storylines. Studies show that graphic novels and comics are valuable resources in aiding gay youth in navigation of their identities in their formative years. A brief history of both gay superheroes and queerly read superheroes in the mainstream comic publishers (DC and Marvel) shows a current lack of positive representation. In this article, I analyse characters written by queer people to see if representation alone was enough to improve the quality of gay heroes. Ultimately, I argue that representation of Iceman of The X-Men, Wiccan and Hulkling of The Young Avengers, and the multiple gay male heroes of The Pride are too tangled in heteronormativity, homonormativity, and gay hegemony to be considered positive. This result suggests that while representation can increase visibility, a new framework for how gay superheroes are represented is necessary to make progress.

摘要

目前，男同性恋超级英雄的代表制缺少机会通过遵循促进进一步边缘化的异规范框架来充分向男同性恋青年提供积极的代表制。一种可能的解决方案是让更多的同性恋者写同性恋故事情节。研究表明，图画小说和漫画是帮助同性恋青年在其成年时期导航自己身份的宝贵资源。主流漫画出版商（DC和Marvel）中同性恋超级英雄和酷爱阅读超级英雄的简要历史表明，目前缺乏积极的代表。在本文中，我分析了酷儿们写的人物，以了解仅代表就足以提高同性恋英雄的素质。最终，我认为《 X战警》的冰人，《年轻复仇者联盟》的Wiccan和Hulkling以及《傲慢》的多个男同性恋英雄在异规范，同规范和男同霸权方面纠结不清，无法被视为积极的。这一结果表明，虽然代表可以提高知名度，但要取得进步，就必须有一个新的框架来说明同性恋超级英雄的表现。