Gay superhero to join the Avengers in 2018
By Joshua Haigh
Marvel has announced that a gay character will be joining the Avengers team next year.
A superhero named Living Lightning, real name Miguel Santos, will be join the team in an upcoming storyline called ‘No Surrender’, which will run weekly from Avengers issue #675 to #690.
The character was created by writers Dann Thomas and Roy Thomas and artist Paul Ryan back in 1990’s Avengers West Coast #63, which saw Santos accidentally getting the ability to control lightning after trying to clear his father’s name by investigating the villainous Legion of the Living Lighting.
He previously joined the West Coast Avengers where he made several appearances over the year, but will join the core Avengers team for the upcoming storyline as the group face two teams of villains.
Santos was shown to date women in early storylines, but he came out as gay in the Great Lakes Avengers series. He also thought that team’s acronym, GLA, stood for ‘Gay/Lesbian Alliance’.
Speaking about Santos’ coming out, GLA writer Dan Slott said: “He’s gay. Get over it. Previous girlfriends? Beards. Or relationships that just didn’t work – because Miguel hadn’t come to terms yet with who he really is.”
He added: “Miguel is a gay superhero and a wonderful role model.”
Upon joining the Avengers, Living Lightning will be the first openly gay member of the superhero team.
Meanwhile, earlier this year it was revealed that Marvel had cut a gay scene from superhero movie, Thor: Ragnarok.
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