10 Badass Gay Characters

Er…sorry to be picky, but “Torchwood” is an anagram of “Doctor Who”, not “The Doctor”. 

Awesome list! just one thing though, ‘Torchwood’ is an anagram of ‘Doctor Who’ not ‘The Doctor’. I do love Captain Jack though… :D

Spiffy list. I would add to it Angel and Louis from John Connelly’s Charlie Parker series. I know you probably didn’t cover novels because it would make the list unweildy. However, with a hot, sexy, deadly to the extreme, African American assassin, and skinny white former (sometimes comes out of retirement) burglar. They are both badass. And totally in love.

Spiffy list. I would add to it Angel and Louis from John Connelly’s Charlie Parker series. I know you probably didn’t cover novels because it would make the list unweildy. However, with a hot, sexy, deadly to the extreme, African American assassin, and skinny white former (sometimes comes out of retirement) burglar. They are both badass. And totally in love.

Spiffy list. I would add to it Angel and Louis from John Connelly’s Charlie Parker series. I know you probably didn’t cover novels because it would make the list unweildy. However, with a hot, sexy, deadly to the extreme, African American assassin, and skinny white former (sometimes comes out of retirement) burglar. They are both badass. And totally in love.

Great Grid. I loved the nod to Nightcrawler being a dick in the Ultimate Marvel Universe (that always annoyed me). I hope the new DCu will keep things interesting with LGB characters that aren’t just equal opertunity scenery.

10 points for using the word “cabinetry”

I look forward to hearing if Batwoman is worth buying when it finally comes out (no pun intended)

Great list, could also include Karolina Dean and Xavin of the Marvel Runaways series.
Karolina Dean is a Majesdanian alien whose powers manifest by abosorbing solar energy and projecting it. As a result, she often looks like a flying rainbow.

Her girlfriend, Xavin, is a Skrull and a shapeshifter–allowing her to take on both–but when flustered or startled, tends to revert to a female form.

Great list, could also include Karolina Dean and Xavin of the Marvel Runaways series.
Karolina Dean is a Majesdanian alien whose powers manifest by abosorbing solar energy and projecting it. As a result, she often looks like a flying rainbow.

Her girlfriend, Xavin, is a Skrull and a shapeshifter–allowing her to take on both–but when flustered or startled, tends to revert to a female form.

The protagonist of Richard Morgan’s The Steel Remains is sort of a gay Conan the Barbarian
http://www.amazon.com/Steel-Remains-Richard-K-Morgan/dp/1596062371/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_4

and Kronar of Oglaf is very, very much a gay Conan the Barbarian
http://www.oglaf.com/son-of-kronar/

Oh, Leonard Pine of Joe Lansdale’s Mucho Mojo et al. Total badass.

I’ve never been quite sure if Utena was actually bi or if her relationship with Anthy feel under the “if it’s you then it’s okay” trope that Japan loves to use so much but that hardly diminishes her awesomeness (heck, she was fighting for Anthy even before they were friends, before she had even spoken to her I think, that says something about her character!). I was surprised in the series though just how obvious they made it that Juri was at least bisexual if not simply a lesbian and I loved that, especially since she was the strongest fighter in the series.

“It felt right that the James Bond of the future would bed anyone.” Damn straight it makes sense, it always confuses me when I read sci-fi where the future is uber-homophoic, it just seems like the complete opposite of the direction we’re going now.

As an avid reader of Hellblazer, I wouldn’t call John Constantine bisexual. There is one mention of having the odd boyfriend, but he has never been shown being sexually or romantically interested in men whatsoever (even in his past). Whereas we have seen him lusting and crushing over women frequently. Although I think it would be cool if he were bi, I don’t think a passing remark sets him up as an icon.

Technically, Jack Harkness is omnisexual, meaning he will have sex with any sentient and consenting  adult being, regardless of gender, species, or planet of origin. So, not technically gay…

Thank you for addressing the T issue. I’ve been seeing a few “LGBT comic” lists around, and it’s always only LGB characters. Which is fine, as long as you acknowledge that it is DAMN hard to find any good T characters out there, because we’re 15 years or so behind the gay movement. 

I hope that some day soon you can run a piece about trans characters who are excellent and wonderful, and who only happen to be trans. 

Thank you for commenting! It was very important to me for this Grid that we address up front the issue of trans’ problematic representation (or, simply non-representation) in the comic and action-hero world. Like you, I also hope the day comes when it’s no longer an issue, but simply an interesting aside.

Thank you for commenting! It was very important to me for this Grid that we address up front the issue of trans’ problematic representation (or, simply non-representation) in the comic and action-hero world. Like you, I also hope the day comes when it’s no longer an issue, but simply an interesting aside.

Renee Montoya, Kate Kane, Jack Harkness, AND Tenjo Utena!  It’s like you read my mind.  :D

Renee Montoya, Kate Kane, Jack Harkness, AND Tenjo Utena!  It’s like you read my mind.  :D

Billy Kaplan, A.K.A Wiccan from the Marvel comic Young Avengers is one that you forgot– and while you’re at it, his boyfriend Hulkling is pretty badass, too.

How could….Omar! Omar from the Wire! Come on!

There’s a discussion of homosexuality in Marvel comics here -

http://thepanicoffice.tumblr.com/post/3572340260/the-unbeddable-hulk-other-stories

Well maybe that just means he’s like double Bi or something. 

There’s also Daken from Marvel Comics–Wolverine’s bisexual son.  What makes him interesting is he uses sex as a means of exploitation.  Granted that sounds like he falls into the bisexual predator trope, but it was handled quite well by Way and Liu in his ongoing.

I’ll tell you what I’d love to see – a return to decency where I could turn on the radio, TV, open a book, magazine or log on to the internet without hearing about “lgbt” junk. This world is broken and crap like this does not fix it. Besides you can not be a BA if you are scissoring or buggering each other. Its an oxymoron, like gay cowboy. Doesn’t exist. Can’t happen. Real women love men and Real men love women. Everything else is schlock. Sorry not opinion. Fact. *Stands back to watch the flame war*……Kinda. I’m logging off so I won’t see your responses. Apologies in advance for you wasting your time excoriating me.

I’ll tell you what I’d love to see – a return to decency where I could turn on the radio, TV, open a book, magazine or log on to the internet without hearing about “lgbt” junk. This world is broken and crap like this does not fix it. Besides you can not be a BA if you are scissoring or buggering each other. Its an oxymoron, like gay cowboy. Doesn’t exist. Can’t happen. Real women love men and Real men love women. Everything else is schlock. Sorry not opinion. Fact. *Stands back to watch the flame war*……Kinda. I’m logging off so I won’t see your responses. Apologies in advance for you wasting your time excoriating me.

WHAT ABOUT DUMBLEDORE? Did I miss something here?

“Mystique, though steamy looks thrown by Rebecca Romijn Stamos to Ian
McKellan do nothing to indicate it, is a canonically bisexual character”

This is clumsy and makes it sound like you’re saying she couldn’t be attracted to a man if she’s bisexual.

“Erik Lensherr (look it up)”

I tried. All that comes up is “Sir Ian Mckellen” and slash fiction? What does the quote reference?

Erik Lensherr is Magneto’s real name, Magneto having been played by Sir Ian McKellen, who is gay… though as far as I’m aware, Magneto is straight.

I wanted to add 2 more to the list:

1) Janis Hawk (played by the wonderful Christine Woods) from the short-lived tv show FlashForward (still available on Hulu).

Not only is the character a smart, capable, layered portrait of a woman (something rare in tv/film), not only is she allowed to be a Person instead of a hollow Sex Object — but the writers allowed her homosexuality to be an aspect of her whole person, not the entire defining element in a “throw in the token homosexual to look hip/edgy” that we often see. In fact I loved the character and the actor’s performance so much that I’m thinking of re-watching the show just to get more Janis time.

2) H.G. Wells — that’s “H” for “Helena” — from the 2nd season of the tv show Warehouse 13 (I think still available on Hulu, don’t know if the character is coming back for season 3).

Helena is bisexual, but again it’s an aspect of her whole person not the single defining item. She’s brilliant, highly capable, courageous, adaptive, morally ambiguous (it’s never clear if she’s a “good guy” or “bad guy”) and independent. I thought the writers’ choice to gender-bend a historical figure was delightful and allows for frequent commentary on on women’s roles past and present.

Chuck Dixon’s Azazel arc was ignored and derided by long time X-fans before it ever saw completion.  The fact that XFC saw fit to REintroduce him as a mutant, not the alleged devil, mind you, is just insult to injury.

For several decades, Kurt was the unwanted scion of the Bavarian nobleman,  Baron von Wagner.  Kurt’s birth tipped him of that his wife, Raven Darkholme, was not who or what she appeared to be.  That is the origin that many,myself included, will always remember for our tragic, beloved Fuzzy Elf.

also, ignore what Dixon implies Kurt’s tail really is on the dvd extras.  People were calling for his head over that one, and not just fans.

tinyurl.com/24n4nqb

Spelling nitpick, under the Jack Phantom entry: “Sergeant.”

In the storyline Ashes and Dust in the City of Angels by Brian Azzarello, collected in the Highwater TPB, Constantine pursues a sexual relationship with the storyarc’s primary villain, S. W. Manor.  Manor is a riff on Bruce Wayne: A rich, powerful industrialist who is nevertheless a screwed-up psychotic mess due to the deaths of his parents.

He and John not only had sex, but they got kinky: The storyline involves Constantine’s alleged murder in a bondage club.

Also props to Maggie Sawyer, at the risk of the list becoming too Gotham Central heavy.  Maggie has faced down the villains of both Superman and Batman without putting on a mask or changing into a pair of long underwear.  She’s just a damn good cop.

This comment actually made sense to me. I don’t know anything about the canon of X-men and the movies made it seem like she was only straight and in a relationship with Magneto. I picked up what they were puttin’ down. But I guess I see your point as well.

themarysue.com/

tinyurl.com/3umps6f

I believe the creator of “The Transporter” meant Jason Statham’s character to be gay, but since it wasn’t explicit, the person who took over in the third movie had the guy fall in love with a girl.

tinyurl.com/24n4nqb

Cool list! Going back in time a bit, I would add Vanyel from Mercedes Lackey’s Last Herald Mage trilogy, a few lesbian characters whose names I can’t remember from Lackey’s Talia trilogy, and any green dragon rider from Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern.

Also, weren’t Xena and Gabrielle all but out at the end of the series’ run?

what about sailor moon which so strongly reminds me of my childhood. Those girls were awsome :))) and if you look closely there are some very interesting charachters you will find and which are not deliberately banned from the series but availible to see and understand and admire. To mention, the lovely lesbian couple of Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune or the Sailor Stars who on their human forms are boys but when they transform they become the powerful girls aka sailor stars :))) i think it can fit in your list…

Chuck Austen, not Chuck Dixon;  it was Chuck Austen who wrote the Azazel arc.  

I’m curious how Magneto makes the list of honourable mentions.

Eh? No Kanji Tatsumi from Persona 4? Guy should at least get an honorable mention.

Revolutionary Girl Utena is NOT a manga adaptation. The manga version by Saito Chiho was developed seperately and in tandem with the anime series. The series director, Ikuhara Kunihiko, is the original creator of the franchise.

This list forgot one more badass gay: Bobby Margot of Macross Frontier.

If there’s one thing I hate it’s the way people lie about bi & trans inclusion. What April said about *saying* you have an LGBT list, but then actually delivering only an LG or LGB list. You aren’t responsible for the fact that the comics industry doesn’t have their act together. You ARE responsible if you make a list that SAYS it includes/celebrates trans characters and then has no trans characters whatsoever. 

You did not do that here & I can’t thank you enough for it. I like to be able to celebrate the queer characters without getting it all confused with rage over someone telling me that they are including trans characters and don’t. Lists like this I know exactly what they are going in, so I can love them for what they are, not get pissed at them for what they aren’t. 

I still love Willow, tho’. More than the captain. She’s a hero AND a villain over the course of the series…in fact, she’s season 6′s “BigBad” and the only chance Xander has to be the big hero of any season. She loves deeply, but that is also her flaw, failing to see where others end and she begins. It made it impossible for her to reconcile with Oz and impossible to heal from Tara’s death without first trying to end the world itself (the suicidal urge taken to its natural conclusion for someone with god-like power). 

Then, of course, there’s the unforgettable reality-warping episode where we get introduced to Willow’s evil twin, who thinks doing Willow would be the ultimate in fun kinks. This of course leads to the prophetic, unforgettable and outrageously funny line, “I think I’m kinda gay!”

Willow for the Win. 

And it’s weird because someone else mentioned Carolina Dean having a Skrull girlfirend, and I thought of these two boys-in-love when I realized Wiccan’s boyfriend is also … a Skrull! Among teenaged Skrulls who are heroes, that old 10 percent study would have to say 20 percent for Skrullians! Maybe they’re more tolerant than human beings; after all, to them, gender identity is probably a little more fluid. Oh God, Catt, I’m sorry. I tried to respond to your cool comment and became an armchair xenosociologist !

I remember a club that was like the “LGBTQQAFSW…” etc. that was REALLY long. I wonder how long the list would be for Captain Jack? Would it contain any X’s or Z’s LOL?

 kanji is not gay, if you play through the game you will see he was wondering if he was gay becuas he had feelings for the detective kid, who everybody thought was a guy, when you rescue the kid you find  out it is a SHE , and that made kanji  not doubt his sexuality anymore,

would love to see tara duluc  honorairy, but not enough people know her

Good list. Batwoman, Montoya, and Captain Jack for the win!

I know this is an old article and all but this typo bugged me: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is set in the 19th century, not the 18th (the era is the 1800s so I can understand the confusion).

As for Transgender, how about Ranma 1/2?
I know, I know, he fell into a magic spring that makes him female when doused with cold water and he keeps trying to fight this fate. But over time he obviously starts to enjoy the freedom it gives him to be a girl at times, freely choosing to be in female form when out and about. It really doesn’t seem to bother him except for the fact that he knows everyone else thinks it’s freaky.

I love the way Rumiko Takahashi plays with gender roles in that manga.

Well, I couldn’t expect anything better from a website called “The Mary Sue”.

Why would I even expect this sort of website to remotely try to highlight characters that are meant to do more than shock audiences through a trait that shouldn’t be shocking?! Oh, and the sexy “strong” female bisexuals invented by straight men that were included? Really empowering examples for bisexuals.!Sarcasm!

We should be past these baby steps, people! These are not really strong LGBT examples.

Care to throw out some examples of who you would have liked to see on the list instead of just criticizing this one?

And Kima!

I’m not sure if he even counts as a character. As you demonstrated, everyone just thinks of him as “Jason Statham.”

Ser Loras!

Ranma 1/2 is NOT supportive of transexuals.

Ranma’s deepest fear is that he might end up ‘going girl’, even at the end of the series. The fact that his fandom is populated by ‘pro-transgender’ people has muddied the waters a lot, especially through the prolific work of Sunshine Temple and the Temple of Ranma’s Sailor Seifuku, but at its core, Ranma 1/2 is a satire turned gag comic that plays serious issues for laughs. The only people who ever actually mistake him for a girl, even in girl form, are mentally unstable (Kuno), brain damaged (Ryoga), or from a culture with inverse gender role expectations (Shampoo).

If Ranma seems less affected towards the end of the series by his curse it’s because of his philosophy of adaptation. He doesn’t accept the idea of turning into a girl, he makes turning into a girl into just another stick to hit things with.

 You are correct in that it is not any kind of celebration of transgenderism, but I do think Takahashi’s work, whish is aimed at young people and kids, still makes some headways in that direction over time. Ranma starts as being deeply ashamed of his transformation but will eventually embrace it more and more, includling the dressing up.

In the end it seems his protestations are more based on that he seems to think it is expected of him than out of any real disgust. His male friends also completely accept his change and that sends a really important message to kids reading it. He is NOT ostracized the way he feared he would be. Nor is he less loved.

His mother’s overemphasis on the importance of him becoming a man, and her old-fashioned threats to commit seppuku is another way to drive home the fact that it is mostly an out of time, ridiculous conservatism that would have any problem with his transgenderism.

So it is not a 100% celebration, but I think it still sends some important messages between the lines, for a manga aimed at mainstream readers. It has certainly let me discuss many things about male/female with my kids – who love it.

Some people are never satisfied. I don’t think Northstar in particular was ever intended to be “shocking” 

they’re an odd couple to include. Karolina is gay, yes, but Xavin is actually male. He appears as female for Karolina’s comfort and benefit, not because he himself chose it. Although gender amongst a shapeshifting race is kinda odd anyway. 

Homestuck. Kanaya, Dirk, Bro, Rose. Among the most badass characters in a cast already filled with badasses.

You left out Natla of Atlantis! :)

Making Colossus gay bugged because it looked like such a pussy move – he’s C List at best. Not that I would have wanted Cyclops or Wolverine made gay but that’s the point – it would have been a gutsy move because it would have been wildly unpopular and exposed the lie that people are more accepting of that gross shit.

Just criminal the they left Shore Leave from Venture Bros. off the list, he’s awesome.

So that’s how Destiny’s Child was created…

If Jack Harkness can make the list, why not Xena Warrior Princess?

Allow me to add Lord Fanny from Grant Morrison’s The Invisibles to the list.

Raised
by his grandmother as a girl in order to continue the family’s
female-only shamanic lineage, Fanny is a gorgeous, witty, 6’2″, cross
dressing witch who kicks arse both literally and metaphysically.

Morrison’s
writing is brilliant across the ensemble but Fanny claims a high
percentage of memorable lines. King Mob and Dane discussing something
meaningful pertaining to the nature of reality… King Mob asks “What do
you think Fanny?” to which she replies “Reality can suck my d**k,
darling”.

None of these are as badass as Omar Little.