Batman has always seemed a little light in the batloafers, and we aren’t the only ones who see it. Now for the first time, his sexuality has been openly discussed in the comic book universe. Is that progress? Who can say?
Multiversity: The Just #1, by Grant Morrison and Ben Oliver, was released on October 22 and is set in a world where superheroes have become obsolete (sounds a bit boring). Rather than saving the world from evil villains, Batman and Superman and the likes are treated more like celebrities, and where there are celebrities there are bratty children of celebrities.
In the issue, Alexis Luthor, daughter of Lex Luthor, asks Batman’s son Damian Wayne (who has adopted dad’s masked identity) whether or not the famous recluse takes it in the batcave.
Take a look:
He may not be gay, but he is apparently a curmudgeon. In the next panel he tells all the neighborhood hipsters to turn down their vinyl and vacate his batlawn.
Gay Star News adds this helpful history of the “Batman is gay” theory:
The ‘gay’ interpretation goes all the way back to 1954, when a psychiatrist claimed that the comic books were ‘homosexual fantasies’.
The 1995 feature film Batman Forever, and especially its 1997 sequel Batman & Robin, both helmed by openly gay director Joel Schumacher, attracted attention for the homoerotic innuendos.
George Clooney himself said he played Batman as gay in the films.
And a few years ago, Morrison (a Batman writer) said to Playboy: ‘He’s very plutonian in the sense that he’s wealthy and also in the sense that he’s sexually deviant. Gayness is built into Batman.
‘I’m not using gay in the pejorative sense, but Batman is very, very gay. There’s just no denying it. Obviously as a fictional character he’s intended to be heterosexual, but the basis of the whole concept is utterly gay.’
h/t Gay Star News
kofender
I’m not sure about Batman, but there’s no question Bruce (could we have a more stereotypical name—c’mon guys; yes, I know plenty of guys named Bruce who aren’t gay) Wayne is gay. Here he’s fabulously wealthy and lives in this huge, stately manor—with only his manservant Alfred (does he have a daddy complex) and his young ward (maybe he’s into twinks). We never see Bruce Wayne with women (except maybe a few beards who’ve appeared over the decades), and he doesn’t make any effort to romance the opposite sex.
Maybe when marriage equality comes to Gotham City he can finally settle down and marry the man of his dreams.
fagburn
Gay Star News’ history seems rather similar to Wikipedia’s…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexuality_in_the_Batman_franchise
hotshot70
1. he wore spandex
2. he had a young “ward” (whom he liked to dress in tights)
3. he and the “ward” would slide on a “batpole” (inspired by firehouse, or a gay strip club)
’nuff said
TnTUAZ
Well duh..If you read the comic books you knew..LOL
Billy Budd
Legendary Comic Writer Alan Moore tried to make Batman’s gay relationship with Robin public (The Joker would say it out loud) in his graphic novel “Batman: The Killing Joke”, but it was censored.
MinusSize
Please sign petition to replace Katy Perry at Superbowl with Lady Gaga:
https://www.change.org/p/katy-perry-nfl-cancel-katy-perry-performance-at-the-superbowl
Captain Obvious
I love when people make claims that Batman was gay all the while providing “evidence” that he was a pedophile. Please stop with the Batman and Robin crap. Having a sexual relationship with someone you adopted is disgusting.
This is directed at the comments, not the article.
Curtispsf
And I’m still wondering how Queerty’s going to work Joe Jonas into this article.