This here is a cliff-hanger. What was the first word?
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Marvel: New 'Hercules' ongoing will feature a heterosexual protagonist.
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This here is a cliff-hanger. What was the first word?
BennyBlanco
aka IMurRIVAL69
i don't think outraged twitter users make up enough of a percentage of their sales for them to cave to them
Hours Left
Member
What a lame development.
Had the opportunity to build on an aspect of his character that had precedence in two previous iterations and have a cool bisexual leading man, but decided to play it safe instead. :/
Had the opportunity to build on an aspect of his character that had precedence in two previous iterations and have a cool bisexual leading man, but decided to play it safe instead. :/
Jesus, those faces are scary, are they supposed to be scary?
but I am guessing tumblr has still thrown a hissy fit.
the look of "I fucked a god and it was good"
RatskyWatsky
Hunky Nostradamus
Yeah, what was it?
If you are bisexual and you only dates girls for some time you .... still are bisexual
Monocle
Member
It's just alternate universe stuff, so it totally doesn't have any bearing on the character at all. The writers can conveniently drop any trait they want. Herc dipped his toes into the gay end of the pool and decided it wasn't for him. As one does. He's 100% straight now, don't worry about it!
IrishNinja
Member
Zeus Molecules
illegal immigrants are stealing our air
There isn't a solid piece of mainstream continuity that confirms it. It could happen later but as of now he isn't Bi.
DonasaurusRex
Online Ho Champ
Oh please Herc is epic straight in the 616 just look at his book when he died before his Oblivion cross over. Cho had to go tell so many women half he banged the other half he was just caring for but his story is based on his family dying. It was the reason he sided with Hulk in WWH his family was taken from him by a plot of the gods he could relate. He wanted to bang Jane Foster too but Thor wasn't having it till Odin did the power sap mid fight.
What does making Herc gay do anyway besides changing his origin?
Palette Swap
Member
I had no idea this even was a thing. I loved Pak Hercules and Abnett is pretty good so right now, I'm vaguely interested.
On the gay Hercules thing, having completely missed the buildup to this, it's so weird to read news that says "Hercules will be heterosexual".
Please stop mentioning Austen, guys. Fucking Austen.
On the gay Hercules thing, having completely missed the buildup to this, it's so weird to read news that says "Hercules will be heterosexual".
Please stop mentioning Austen, guys. Fucking Austen.
Fuck those guys for caring about bisexual representation.
When a character in his entire existence is basically known for sleeping with or trying to sleep with every woman possible it comes across as a rather lame attempt to shoehorn onto that character characteristics that never existed in the first place.
Just like it was lame to pull the sudden Iceman is gay thing. His entire existence was chasing after women and suddenly no you are just a closeted gay man
A Link to the Past
Banned
I thought he was bi in 616, too and that made people angry... But why the hell are people offended when this is not even the same Hercules?
I see where they come from... But why are people with understanding of the Marvel Multiverse than angry? Oo
Axel should shut the fuck up regardlessly, he shit talks on a regular basis...
I see where they come from... But why are people with understanding of the Marvel Multiverse than angry? Oo
Axel should shut the fuck up regardlessly, he shit talks on a regular basis...
I never knew bi dudes never slept with women.
Please, let's not act like 'straight' in comic-books means anything. The amount of ho-yay with 90% of these characters is borderline text at this point.
The Iceman thing was actually more mixed and if anything I would say people were more positive than negative.
Femmeworth
Banned
Doesn't sound like a character that would be all that beneficial to bi representation.
Yeah, they're not painting him as bi. At all. They're painting him as a homosexual man. Which is fine, except comic-books have given us the internal thoughts of Drake for five decades and it's never been a part of his character, or hinted at beyond theories fans have read into the character and used increasingly nebulous logic to back up said theory, before.
It is absolutely a retcon. And if that's their direction they're going... it's cool. Just pulling the 'it was always there' card is utter bullshit. It wasn't. Which is a shame, because really ONE of the original five being gay in the 1960s would've been some progressive as fuck brilliance. But even Marvel didn't have the balls back then for that.
I was talking about Hercules.
I feel they should have gone with Bobby being bi, and the dialogue where he suggests it and Jean shoots him down was cringe inducing awfulness.
Vampirolol
Member
Sometimes I can totally see why some characters are gay just to show that Marvel takes care of social justice, like in a totally unrelated story they have to keep mentioning it, that makes me a little angry, it takes me out from the story. Of course I'm in for more gay, female, black characters, but with actual good writing, and some writers did a good job in that side.
With this being said, Hercules sucks.
With this being said, Hercules sucks.
Why do minority, female, and LGBT heroes have to be justified? Why can't they just be there without the barrier of "good writing", whatever that means in relation to representation.
Escape Goat
Member
Its unfortunate DC fucked with Batwoman. That could have been an iconic character.
LAUGHTREY
Modesty becomes a woman
Isn't that the entire point of the X-Men? That it's an allegory for prejudice?
It feels incredibly pandery and ham fisted when the incredible thing about these characters isn't their power or how they deal with it, but sexuality or race.
It becomes a spectacle in and of itself, when stuff like that shouldn't be defining these characters in the slightest. Don't make a big deal out of a character who's a minority, just do it, because when you treat doing the right thing like you deserve a pat on the back or something, it just seems like you're doing it for the edginess factor or marketing move.
Because when Spider-Man becomes mexican or Thor becomes a woman, personally it feels cheapened to me. Like they aren't standing on their own two feet. Minority characters deserve the same quality of writing as any other comic, not kitschy gimmicks because they aren't confident in the concept.
It's the same sort of problem that I have with comicbooks in general really, like when Superman and Batman both "died" to sell comic books. It doesn't feel like a narrative that they care about, it feels like a method for generating sales.
Not that it makes it any better, but I think it's less a case of fear and more one of ignorance/lack of consideration. Credit where it's due, they've done bisexual characters before. Off the top of my head, Wolverine's son, Daken, who was a recurring villain for a good 4-5 years in recent stuff.
Read the whole article. The alt universe comment is a nice cherry to pick, but it does sound like 616 Herc was bi up until now.
Monocle
Member
You joke but it's impossible to watch, read, or listen to anything these days without the existence of gay people and their LBGQTLMNOP-whatever friends being thrown in your face. I'm a guy with simple tastes. My dick is for women, my butt is for toilets, and my brain is for nonthreatening entertainment that reinforces my worldview, like pro hockey and wet t-shirt contests and pig wrasslin'.
I don't read comics but if I was some nerdy little pussy I think I'd still be pissed off that a badass like Hercules had to spread his glutes for the PC agenda.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not a homophobe. I was raised by a pack of gay wolves, and they all agree that Hercules should be a real man. Sorry if this offended anyone, I'm just speaking the truth how I see it.
The solution for Hercules would just to be Marvel going 'he's fluid sexually.' In short, he has periods where he'll sleep with men, periods with women, periods with both, periods where he doesn't sleep with anyone etc. I mean he's a God, isn't the point of Gods to be above such base human terminologies.
If Herc is anything like his father, Zeus, he would swing both ways. Remember bisexuality wasn't uncommon in Greece, many emperors, Alexander the Great, Socrates, Plato and Spartans, most of whom also had wives
Both of those roles were passed down to other people. The original characters didn't "become" them or whatever.
Besides that, Thor has been a smash success for Marvel and has sold more than the original has in years. Miles Morales retains a die hard fanbase and is going to be appearing the main universe.
There's no point in unnecessarily limiting the definition of what is or isn't the "proper" way to include underrepresented groups, especially since when they do it your way, nobody ever buys them. They've had greater success with Kamala Khan and the new Thor then they ever have any other way.
LAUGHTREY
Modesty becomes a woman
But that's the thing, it just feels like a cheapened shortcut to me. People aren't interested in new minority characters because they're always handed off to shitty writers. People buy up Female Thor because they want to see the "controversy" unfold.
It's a lot easier to get people to buy your comic when all the news says is: "Spider-man now mexican! Thor now Female!"
Also it just reeks of temporariness. Loki eventually became a man again, I'm sure Miles will become Spider-boy or something soon too. I hate that. Dick Greyson was Batman for a good long while, and now he isn't, and the 'Greyson' comic was good, but not as good as when Bruce was "dead".
Monocle
Member
I know! I probably didn't push my sarcasm as far as I could have.
What wrong with base human terminology if it accurately describes a phenomenon or state or whatever? Hercules can bleed, right? Well I guess he's not above our base human term for losing blood. He's also a pretty big dude. My primitive human mind would consider him muscular. Is he above that descriptor?
If he's attracted to males and females, there's nothing misleading about calling him bisexual.
Maybe people are just genuinely interested in the new Thor. Maybe she's just way more interesting to them than the old Thor ever was.
I bought Ms. Marvel because I heard good things about it, and also because it had a female lead and a Muslim hero that the story didn't shy away from. Kamala's religion and culture is an established aspect of her character, like how it is in real life.
Well if they really want to talk specifics it's said he had male lovers in Greek mythological stories as well...
Comes down to the fact marvel should be creating new characters with all these PC traits instead of these shock "guess which marvel hero likes men this week!" or spinning the PC wheel to see what to shoe horn I next.
I rather see a "Marvel set to introduce..."
Type of headline then
"guess who is now not Caucasian and likes men, and at the same time a Republican....
STAR LORD! "
I rather see a "Marvel set to introduce..."
Type of headline then
"guess who is now not Caucasian and likes men, and at the same time a Republican....
STAR LORD! "
Stormbringer
Member
People, is anybody in there gonna tell us what that "first word" was ? I really want to know what these scary superwomen think of Hercules right now.
Sexual orientation is not a character trait. It's not a bullet point on a resume.
Unless you're a total jackass there's no reason to think that way.
Exactly this. It's the easiest thing on the world. Instead Marvel PR built a bear pit, took two steps back to admire their handywork, and then walked right into it. Idiots.
LAUGHTREY
Modesty becomes a woman
That seems to be his point. Why is Marvel treating it like that?
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