Northstar

One of the last things comics aficionados think about is whether or not their favorite hero might subscribe to a different orientation to that of themselves.  After all, Superman has always had his Lois Lane, Peter Parker his Mary Jane, Green Lantern his Carol Ferris, and Wonder Woman her Steve Trevor.  But what happens when you run across a superhero who does?

This is where we present Northstar of The X-Men.  Born Jean-Paul Beaubier in French Canada, the character was introduced in 1979 as an elite skiing champion.  His creator, John Byrne, intended for Northstar to be gay, but Marvel Comics’ management and the Comics Code Authority at the time had a policy restricting the introduction of “out” characters, so Byrne was only allowed to drop subtle and not-so-subtle hints regarding Northstar’s orientation.  (His apparent lack of interest in women was primarily due to “his obsessive drive to win as a ski champion.”)  Finally, in 1992, writer Scott Lobdell was allowed to let Northstar utter three little words in Alpha Flight #106: “I am gay.”

As the first major and openly gay character created by Marvel, Northstar generated significant publicity in mainstream press (I myself remember seeing the NBC Nightly News broadcast mentioning it), and although Alpha Flight wasn’t a particularly popular or money-making title for Marvel, the issue sold out in a week, and it is to date the only comic book issue to be inducted into the Gaylactic Hall of Fame.

Unfortunately for fans, Marvel dropped the ball after Northstar’s outing.  For the most part, his sexual orientation as a plot line was never developed or mentioned, except for an interesting arc in which Jean-Paul’s twin sister (Jeanne-Marie, the mutant Aurora) – who was suffering a split personality – accepted his homosexuality in one reality while rejecting and disparaging it in another.  His eponymous miniseries comic also ignored it, and it wasn’t until he became a member of The X-Men in 2002 that the subject was addressed directly – he developed an unrequited crush on Iceman, and became a mentor to a minor mutant character called Anole.  Jean-Paul eventually fell in love with and married his sports company’s events manager, Kyle Jinadu.

(I’m sure that, as a totally secondary observation, Northstar’s mutant abilities – being able to move and fly at superhuman speeds using the ambient kinetic energy in his cells and his superhuman stamina, endurance and reflexes – had nothing to do with making him a gay man.  Or did they?  After all, with that list of abilities, he would probably be every homo’s dream.)

More superheroes have cautiously crossed the Rubicon in the past years, declaring themselves to be bi or homosexual; most recently, actor Andrew Garfield (the replacement to Tobey Maguire in the Spider Man movie franchise) with the producer and director of the series, suggesting that Spidey might be a little flexible in the sexuality department: “What if M.J. was a guy?  Why can’t he be into boys?”  Garfield even went so far as to suggest an actor for his alternative Spider Man: Michael B. Jordan.

So, it makes sense to me that, if we’re going to have heroes, let’s make them as human as possible within their realm of impossibility.  There have been zombified superheroes and alternate reality plots, so there’s nothing wrong that saying Johnny can’t wear a Spandex bodysuit and be into boys, while Janie wears her fluorescent singlet and likes to camp with girls.  Nothing wrong with that at all, right?  Course not – everyone wants a significant other who isn’t afraid to walk around in his underwear (Spandex?), and a happy ending, especially with their personal superhero.