‘The Sandman’s’ sexy gay villain is a literal nightmare, but fans are ready to risk it all

Because there’s nothing more powerful than thirst, Netflix’s buzzy new series, The Sandman, has the gays day-dreaming over a literal nightmare.

Adapted from Neil Gaiman’s hit comic books, The Sandman ushers viewers into the dark fantasy world of Morpheus (Tom Sturridge), an immortal, godlike being who is the creator of humanity’s dreams, the good and the bad.

It’s admittedly pretty heady stuff, but all of the dense mythology goes down easy thanks to a gorgeous cast playing deities, demons, humans, and everything in between.

Chief among them is Boyd Holbrook (Logan, Narcos) who stars as an entity known as The Corinthian. Essentially the season’s primary antagonist, The Corinthian is a nightmare created by Morpheus who escaped and is now wreaking havoc in the real world, killing most anyone in his wake.

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Oh, and did we mention that he has two extra mouths where his eyeballs are supposed to be? Good thing he’s usually wearing sunglasses!

In other words, The Corinthian has all the makings of nightmare fuel, except for the fact that he’s played by the ruggedly handsome Holbrook, who imbues the character with a real swagger and a devilish charm. As long as those shades stay on, it’s hard not be wooed by his alluring villain.

There’s also the fact that The Corinthian has an insatiable sexual appetite with a predilection for men, and The Sandman doesn’t hold back in delivering some sexy gay scenes—even if a lot of them do end in bloodshed.

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Is this yet another example of Hollywood vilifying queerness? Over at Digital Spy, writer David Opie argues that The Sandman leans into the tropes of the “depraved homosexual” with The Corinthian, only to subvert them by season’s end, further strengthened by the fact that the series (much like the comic source material) creates space for a wide range of LGBTQ characters and experience.

This has all led to a lot of conflicting emotions from queer viewers who have been alternatively attracted to and horrified by the character. Still, fans have not been afraid to share their lusty feelings on Twitter. Below, we’ve assembled a collection of the thirstiest and funniest tweets about The Corinthian, the man of our “liquid nightmares.”

The Sandman is now streaming exclusively on Netflix.