I have a little calendar that I keep of bi birthdays and significant bi events. I was looking at November and saw the anniversary of Stan Lee’s death. I smiled because Stan Lee’s creations have brought me so much joy. I was a dedicated X-Men reader for many years and always loved how inclusive the Marvel universe is. Stan Lee wasn’t bi (that I know of), but he was the father, or maybe grandfather, of so much of what now makes up bi culture.
Stan Lee in collaboration with Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko brought us The Avengers, Spider-Man, the X-Men, and many other superheroes. There has been a lot of discussion in past years over who deserves the credit for these creations, with Jack Kirby claiming that he did much more than Stan Lee has acknowledged. I have no idea how much each contributed over the course of the decades-long partnership, but I feel safe saying that the Marvel Universe would have been a very different place without Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.
Comics are also highly collaborative. New writers and artists are always redefining and recreating characters. One of the reasons I love sprawling universes like The X-Men is that canon is so malleable, characters can have conflicting backstories, their powers evolve, and they are constantly being updated. I think that adds to the power of them as a medium. It does make it hard to assign credit for a particular character or character trait. Stan Lee was a huge presence at Marvel for decades and so I think it’s safe to say that he shaped the path of many of his heroes and villains.
For many of us, we know the man for his many cameos in various Marvel movies (and Mallrats, 1995). Unfortunately, for the most part, the Marvel movies have been erasing some of their great bi characters.
Lee is the first to embrace the fact that these characters have life beyond his writing and to celebrate that. In an interview with the BBC, he was asked how he felt about the fact that Iceman had come out as gay. He laughed and expressed surprise.
I didn’t really have any characters, or if they were gay, I didn’t really play up the fact that they were gay… I wasn’t aware of it.
The interviewer seems shocked that Lee had no idea that his character had come out.
This is the first time I learned that Iceman is gay. Wow! I never knew that. I don’t care what happens as long as they tell good stories and they do.
Compare this to actor Dirk Benedict’s response on finding out that his character Starbuck had been cast as a woman in the 2004 Battlestar Galactica reboot.
Women are from Venus. Men are from Mars. Hamlet does not scan as Hamletta. Nor does Han Solo as Han Sally. Faceman is not the same as Facewoman. Nor does a Stardoe a Starbuck make. Men hand out cigars. Women "hand out" babies. And thus the world, for thousands of years, has gone round.
So yes, Stan Lee never gave us a queer character, but I truly believe that he created space for them and when they happened he embraced them. He took a genre that was about infallible, larger-than-life superheroes and made these heroes human. He made them fallible, gave them insecurities, weaknesses, and secrets. He understood that we all put on a mask and fight the world at times. Our battles might not be on the scale of Spiderman’s, but we could sympathize with the fact that these were just people doing their best in a scary world.
Over time the mutants of The X-Men (first published in 1963) came to represent so much more than a gaggle of gifted youngsters. Stan Lee has talked about how he quickly realized that he could use The X-Men as a metaphor for the civil rights movement. Kirby and Lee created heroes who were different and shunned by society. However, the reader and the mutants understand that their differences are in fact what makes them powerful and allows them to save the world.
The original run of The X-Men was not especially popular, and Marvel canceled the series in 1969. In 1975 a whole new group of X-Men was introduced and the series had an incredibly successful run under writer Chris Claremont and artist David Cockrum (and later John Byrne). The new characters were from around the world, with different cultural backgrounds and different philosophies. By the 1980s The X-Men was Marvel’s top title and has continued to be wildly successful, including a number of movies.
Over the years characters created by Stan Lee, like Iceman, have come out and titles that he originated have produced a number of queer characters. The list is surprisingly long, but here are some of the bi highlights.
Black Cat (Felicia Hardy)
Black Cat has been an ally, love interest, and enemy of Spider-Man. She is a kick-ass martial artist who can alter the probability fields of others (basically give them bad luck). She first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #194 (July 1979).
Cletus Kasady
Cletus Kasady is a villain in Spider-Man. He is also the first and most well-known host of the Carnage symbiote. He first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #344 (March 1991).
Daken (Akihiro)
Daken is the son of Wolverine and Itsu. He first appeared in Wolverine Origins #10 (March 2007).
Destiny (Irene Adler)
Destiny is a blind mutant who can see the future. She is a common enemy of the X-Men. Destiny first appeared in Uncanny X-Men #141 (January 1981).
Loki Laufeyson
Loki is another denizen of Asgard. He is the brother and often enemy of Thor. He was created by Stan Lee and first appeared in Journey Into Mystery #85 (1962).
Mystique (Raven Darkhölme)
Mystique is a mutant that is associated with the X-Men. She is normally a villain, although she has helped the X-Men and worked with S.H.I.E.L.D. Mystique is also Nightcrawler's mother. She first appeared in Ms. Marvel #16 (1978).
Psylocke (Elizabeth Braddock)
Psylocke is a telepath, and later acquired the power of telekinesis, who is often associated with the X-Men. She was introduced in Captain Britain #8 (December 1976).
Valkyrie (Brunhilde)
Valkyrie first appeared in Avengers #83 (December 1970) and was selected as Odin's lead shield-maiden, known for being an awesome fighter.
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