Superman has come out of the closet. Finally. That cape-wearing, lycra-loving Fitness First Platinum membership holding Muscle Mary (like those weren’t all red flags) has proudly declared himself a member of the queer mafia.

Superman, DC Comics
Superman has a boyfriend! Image: DC Comics

DC Comics has this week confirmed that Jon Kent – the son of Superman Senior Clark Kent and Lois Lane – is bisexual. The mighty powered lad is also in a relationship with a reporter, Jay Nakamura. 

These Kent men certainly have a type don’t they.

In an interview with the New York Times, series writer Tom Taylor said that the prospect of simply replacing Super Senior with a similar straight, white hero felt like a “missed opportunity”.

Kent isn’t solo in flying the rainbow flag among superheroes. Diversity has been slowly creeping in for quite some time now, both officially and unofficially depending on your level of textual analysis.

X-Men’s founding character Iceman was officially added to the LGBT+ roster back in 2015. But we (the gays) done knew that Bobby Drake was one of us as far back as 2003 when he blew Wolverine. I mean, chilled his beer.

Even earlier than this, Alpha Flight member Northstar confirmed that he was gay back in 1992 – one of the first superheroes in comic books to be officially gay. Northstar then went on to be the first to have a same-sex marriage. Gotta hand it to those fast-as-light powers. Get it Northy.

The response to Kent’s confirmation has been…actually, know one cares what the response is unless it’s a high five and a holler in support of the storyline. 

If you think that having a gay superhero is unnecessary you underestimate the power and impact that these said characters have on kids.

So many little boys and girls wanted to be Superman. Not just because of the powers, but because Superman represented all things good. He helped people. He put his talents to the service of others to make the world a better place.

We choose our role models because we want to be like them. When they’re also a little bit like us, that’s just magical.