Jonathan Kent—the son of Clark Kent, Superman—is coming out as bisexual. Jon Kent, known as “the Superman of Earth,” is set to come out in the Nov. 9th issue of DC's “Superman: Son of Kal-El #5.”
This is considered the highest profile example of comic book publishers expanding the LGBTQ representation in their pages, but it is hardly the first. In August, DC published an issue in which Tim Drake—aka Batman’s sidekick, Robin—came out as bi. Other major characters include Batwoman, Harley Quinn, Alan Scott (Green Lantern), and Marvel’s Iceman, America Chavez (aka Miss America) and Northstar — one of the very first openly gay comic book characters when he came out in 1992.
Tom Taylor (“Dark Knights of Steel”) penned “Superman: Son of Kal-El #5,” and John Timms (“Harley Quinn”) was the artist.
“I’ve always said everyone needs heroes and everyone deserves to see themselves in their heroes and I’m very grateful DC and Warner Bros. share this idea,” Taylor in a statement. “Superman’s symbol has always stood for hope, for truth and for justice. Today, that symbol represents something more. Today, more people can see themselves in the most powerful superhero in comics.”
In 2019, Ruby Rose made history as the first openly lesbian lead superhero in television, playing Kate Kane aka Batwoman on the CW. She later left and was replaced by Javicia Leslie, who played the role of Ryan Wilder.
Reaction was mixed. While many were enthusiastic about the move, a vocal minority were not. One wrote that they were “tired of this political PC agenda.”
But overall, the Twitterverse applauded. One wrote, “This seriously would have made a huge difference when I was growing up.”