During National Coming Out Day – on October 11th – DC comics announced that its current Superman will come out as bi in the November issue of “Superman Son of Kal-El.” Backpedaling: it’s not Superman, not quite, but his son Jonathan Kent. Superman is somewhere in space. Jonathan has been hanging out as Superboy for a while, and he puts on the cape and kisses a boy. As such, he’s both Superman and not-Superman since DC’s heroes are regularly rebooted, remixed, and retconned.
The Man of Steel now dressing like a man has scrambled the brains of Americans.
Superman is the original superhero. Ask someone to name a superhero, and they’ll say “Superman” or “Batman.” Ask them to name the most powerful superhero, and regardless of their allegiance to Gotham, they’ll admit that Bruce Wayne is a playboy with money (much like Tony Stark), and Kal-El is a superhuman alien whose Kryptonian biochemistry is enhanced by the yellow sun. In contrast to Batman, Superman shines with a masculine light of truth, justice, and the American way. Superman’s coming out changes the narrative on masculinity and heroism, about what attributes make an admirable character and whose stories deserve to be told.
There have been a number of minor characters and bit players released by DC and Marvel: John Constantine. Poison Ivy. Catwoman. Loki (more prominent since Loki, but still considered a marginal antihero). In a recent interview, Deadpool creator Gerry Duggan admitted that Deadpool would do “anything with a pulse.” But no other character can compete with Superman’s cache. In case you’ve never heard of John Constantine, chances are you love comics and already know that Wiccan is gay (Wiccan is, by the way, Billy from WandaVision, and the first gay couple in DC). You’re probably also tweeting your support for a nonbinary actor as Desire in the upcoming release of Neil Gaiman’s Sandman series, and the announcement that Superman will come out isn’t so much a story as an “oh, interesting take on Jon Kent’s identity issues.”
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