National Coming Out Day is an annual LGBT awareness day observed on October 11, to support lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in “coming out of the closet”. In observance of National Coming Out Day and LGBTQ+ History Month, DC joined in the festivities by announcing that Superman is, in fact, Bisexual.
Don’t get your cosplay capes in a twist over this, we’re talking about JON KENT here, not the same beloved heternomative, deeply in love and infatuated with Lois Lane, CLARK KENT! Jon Kent is the son of Lois and Clark. Jon Kent has spent some time as Superboy, but he is growing up and will be taking over for his father as Superman, whose parents have been fading.
Every year on National Coming Out Day, we celebrate coming out as LGBTQ+. This year, we will mark the 33rd anniversary of National Coming Out Day. Thirty-three years ago, on the anniversary of the National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights, we first observed National Coming Out Day as a reminder that one of our most basic tools is the power of coming out.
In addition to October 11th being National Coming Out Day, it is also LGBTQ+ History Month. LGBTQ+ History Month is an annual month-long observance of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender history, and the history of the gay rights and related civil rights movements.
According to an announcement by DC, in the comic book, Superman: Son of Kal-El #5, which doesn’t even drop until November 9th, Jon Kent will not only follow in his father’s footsteps by taking over as the Man of Steel, but he will also fall in love with a journalist, much like his father fell for his mother, Lois. The twist is that the journalist he falls for is Jay Nakamura, who happens to be the same gender as Jon.
As we mentioned back in June when we announced Batman’s Robin (Tim Drake) was bisexual, this is not the first DC icon who is LGBTQ+, but what’s exciting about this is that Superman has ALWAYS only had eyes for Lois Lane and it’s about time that the Superman torch gets passed to someone a little more fluid than his father, even if the hero has been played by the likes of Henry Cavill who is rumored to be bisexual himself (Cavill has neither confirmed nor denied this rumor).
“Over the years in this industry, it probably won’t surprise you to hear I’ve had queer characters and storylines rejected. I felt like I was letting down people I loved every time this happened,” writer Tom Taylor explained to IGN. “But we are in a very different and much more welcome place today than we were ten, or even five years ago. When I was asked if I wanted to write a new Superman with a new #1 for the DC Universe, I knew replacing Clark with another straight white savior could be a real opportunity missed. I’ve always said everyone needs heroes and everyone deserves to see themselves in their heroes. Today, Superman, the strongest superhero on the planet, is coming out.”
“It is a pretty big deal doing it with Jon Kent as Superman,” added artist John Timms. “As we have seen Jon grow up in front of our eyes, it will be interesting to see him not only trying to find himself as a person but a global super hero in the complex atmosphere of modern life. On the other hand, I hope this kind of thing will not be seen as a big deal in the future. You could visualize how it could pan in the future when the most powerful man in the world is part of the LGBT community. So many things are on the horizon and beyond.”
DC is having absolutely no problems keeping up with the times and embracing LGBTQ+ characters in all forms of their media, however not everyone can be pleased.
Appearing on Fox & Friends on Tuesday, Dean Cain, who portrayed Superman for four seasons on the 1993 ABC TV series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, shared his thoughts on the idea, noting that he doesn’t believe a bisexual Superman is anything particularly groundbreaking and claims DC is “Bandwagoning”.
Cain said, “I don’t think it’s bold or brave or some crazy new direction. If they had done this 20 years ago, perhaps that would be bold or brave. But brave would be having him fight for the rights of gay people in Iran where they’ll throw you off a building for the offense of being gay.”
Of course, the Twitterverse had to share their thoughts on the announcement as well as Cain’s unwelcomed response:
REELated: Batman: Robin comes out of the cave as bisexual
The Majority of Tweets seem to be in support of DC’s announcement:
In the same DC Comics announcement DC Chief Creative Officer and Publisher Jim Lee said, “We couldn’t be prouder to tell this important story from Tom Taylor and John Timms. We talk a lot about the power of the DC Multiverse in our storytelling and this is another incredible example. We can have Jon Kent exploring his identity in the comics as well as Jon Kent learning the secrets of his family on TV on Superman & Lois. They coexist in their own worlds and times, and our fans get to enjoy both simultaneously.”
Jon and Jay are set to take a step forward in their relationship in next month’s issue #5 of Superman: Son of Kal-El, out on November 9th 2021.
Thoughts?
Joia DaVida reports on the entertainment industry in both Chicago and Los Angeles.
