Three things rule the internet these days: cats, Keanu Reeves, and superheroes. Marvel, DC, and the indies beyond continue to produce stories about people with special abilities and great outfits. I lowkey believe that all superheroes are queer coded. For example, many of their outfits, costumes, and disguises are essentially drag in a variety of iterations — glam to realistic. Superheroes often keep their real identity secret, mirroring queer folks remaining in the closet. And they are all too frequently, and violently, targeted by law enforcement and other state-sponsored bodies because they are different, just like members of the LGBTQIA+ community.

While queer superhero stories aren’t necessarily getting on screen as much as they should, over the decades there has been a growing cadre of superheroes across comic book universes who are openly LGBTQIA+, including storylines with same-sex romance and relationships, both long and short-term. In honor of Pride month, here are five queer superheroes who have brought the rainbow into a variety of multiverses. 

Batwoman

While Batman and Robin’s special relationship continues to be up for debate (with the third iteration of Robin, Tim Drake, being openly gay), there is no doubt about Batwoman’s sexuality as this out and proud lesbian has moved from page to screen and back again. Played by Ruby Rose and then Javicia Leslie on the CW Batwoman series, Batwoman is one of the highest profile queer women in any superhero universe, and for that we give thanks this Pride month. The CW took her even further when they cast a Black woman to take up the bat mantle, giving us some vital queer woman of color representation on screen that’s among the first of its kind despite its cancellation after only three seasons.

The television show has an entire host of other queer women in her orbit, including canon LGBTQIA+ characters like Poison Ivy (Nicole Kang) — whose relationship with Harley Quin is the stuff of DC legend. Batwoman is an absolute trailblazer, and hopefully we won’t have to wait too long before her story picks back up on the big or little screen.  

Deadpool

Arguably one of the highest profile queer superheroes at the moment given the ball-busting, I mean blockbuster success of Deadpool & Wolverine’s absolute box office domination last year is the one and only Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) whose pansexual antics are canon in the comic books and just getting revving on screen. Created by  Fabian Nicieza and Rob Liefeld, Wade’s sexual fluidity is part and parcel of this character even though some claim that his screen adaptation has heterofied his character more than they should have. It doesn’t change the fact that Deadpool is openly lascivious toward anyone — and sometimes anything — that moves, the “epitome of inclusive” according to one of his creators Fabian Nicieza. 

And since Wolverine will be making Marvel movies until Hugh Jackman is 90, there’s plenty of time for Mr. Pool to have an onscreen male or nonbinary love interest. Maybe even with Wolverine himself, gods willing. Which we can all get behind, on International Women’s Day or any day of the year. 

America Chavez

As one of the first queer Latina superheroes, America Chavez and her dimension-punching abilities certainly filled a huge void in the multiverse of Marvel — and beyond. While her background began as an alien being from an alternate dimension known as the Utopian Parallel, she was retconned into a more believable and fully human back story with scientist parents on a hidden island where she and her sisters were experimented on, resulting in a superpowered cadre of badass chicas. 

America’s queerness only gets a small nod on screen in Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness evident in her updated Pride flag pin that includes the trans flag and the stripes for queers of color, she is very much openly gay in the comics, her love life in Young Avengers being a huge part of her story and identity. Since she hasn’t had her own feature film or show yet, we can hope that when Miss America gets her moment, her queerness will have plenty of room to shine front and center. 

Jon Kent, Son of Superman

Superman has always been seen as a symbol of American masculinity. Despite the fact that he’s an alien from the planet Krypton, his flyover country upbringing and meek alter ego of Clark Kent adds to Superman’s enigmatic persona. But his son with Lois Lane, Jonathan Kent, has joined the rainbow brigade in recent comic book storylines that have him not only out as bisexual, but in a relationship with another man. 

Jon Kent was introduced by Dan Jurgens in 2015, but it’s not until Tom Taylor and John Timms got their story on him in 2021 that his bisexual identity becomes a major plot point, earning Superman: Son of Kal-El a 34th GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Comic Book. Jon Kent is also notable in the queer superhero canon as he is unequivocally a hero figure, not an antihero like many of the others in this list — and in the collection of LGBTQIA+ characters more generally. Queerness is often coded with Otherness, and Jon smashes that stereotype to bits, but politely like his dad. 

Mystique

No superhero list of any kind is complete without queer icon Mystique, because she is everything. Literally. Mystique’s gender and sexual fluidity are part and parcel of her character as she shapeshifts into whomever she needs to accomplish her goals. Mystique hit the pages in 1978, and one of her writers revealed in 2006 that part of her original storyline was she and Destiny were supposed to be Nightcrawler’s parents, with Mystique in male form when Destiny got pregnant. But the Comics Code Authority expressly forbade the portrayal of any gay characters so the juicy plot development was closeted — pun intended — until Mystique as Nightcrawler’s father was finally made canon in 2023. Better late than never, right?