Turning 'Deadpool and Wolverine' into a bromance for laughs completely ignores the queer history of both characters
Deadpool and Wolverine are queer, they're here, get used to it
While we were told this day would never come, Hugh Jackman is sticking on his highest spandex and suiting up (supposedly) one last time to play the iconic character of Logan/ Wolverine. Ryan Reynolds' foul-mouthed Merc with a Mouth joins forces with arguably the most famous member of Charles Xavier’s gifted youngsters, as Deadpool & Wolverine hopes to claw its way to the top of the box office for this X-rated (well, R-rated) X-Men movie.
Disney has gone hard on marketing Deadpool & Wolverine as the ultimate bromance, but for some, the constant jokes that the pair are “gay” for each other have fallen flat.
As the typically vocal minority claims that “woke” Disney is ruining these testosterone-pumped heroes, it seems they’ve forgotten that the clawed Canadian and DP hooking up on the silver screen wouldn’t be that unusual at all. In fact, both “bros” have a rich and colourful LGBTQ+ history on the pages of Marvel comics.
Deadpool is our pansexual king
Deadpool’s sexuality is fairly well-known, with co-creator Fabian Nicieza never being shy about Deadpool's pansexuality. In 2015. Nicieza said he’s tired of being “dogged” by these questions for years but reiterated.
“It is a bit tiring. He is NO sex and ALL sexes. He is yours and everyone else’s.”
Deadpool is credited as “the epitome of inclusive” by his co-creator, but sadly, that same Nicieza tore into a fan article on Deadpool’s pansexuality, saying that “anyone who writes such an extended column trying to "prove" Deadpool's sexuality does not understand Deadpool's sexuality.”
In the comics, Deadpool’s pansexuality is occasionally given the nod, like accidentally marrying Orska the space hippo or having Peter Parker at No. 5 on his “free pass” list. He’s been linked with the skeletal Death (who’s been portrayed as both male and female) and even woken up with the canonically gay Iceman in 2020’s Deadpool: The End. More recently, 2023’s Deadpool #3 saw DP share his feelings for Valentine Vuong. This marked an important milestone for Marvel due to Vuong being a non-binary assassin.
If you thought Deadpool’s comic book sexuality was nuanced, that’s nothing compared to the movies. Deadpool 2 broke new ground with Brianna Hildebrand’s Teenage Negasonic Warhead introducing Wade to her girlfriend, but as far back as a 2018 Comic-Con Q&A (via Variety), Reynolds has been asking to give more prominence to Deadpool’s sexuality. Back then, the man behind the mask said that Deadpool is “allowed to do things that other superhero movies don’t necessarily do,” which is a sad reflection of the superhero slate.
The MCU has been called out for its lack of LGBTQ+ representation, with even the inclusion of Brian Tyree Henry's Phastos as the franchise’s first openly gay hero in Eternals being far from prominent. Hoping we go down the route of Don Mancini’s Chucky series, where we can handle the situation with humour but a sense of levity, we’d be surprised if Deadpool’s pansexuality isn’t at least referenced in the next movie.
Where Deadpool & Wolverine takes Wade’s sexuality remains to be seen, but when it comes to his new partner in crime, it’s not just Jean Grey who’s taken Wolverine’s fancy over the years.
Wolverine’s complicated bisexuality
The hairy-armed Logan might ooze masculinity from every pore, and while we’re (not) sorry to inform the haters, Wolverine goes both ways. There are seemingly unfounded claims that X-Men legend Chris Claremont wanted to make Wolverine bisexual but had been blocked by Marvel’s archaic “ No Gays in the Marvel Universe” ruling. Instead of our mainline Earth-616 Wolverine getting to explore his sexuality, he’d eventually get to do it in an alternate universe story.
Being as divisive as you’d expect, the multiverse X-Treme X-Men series featured heroes from different realities, uniting again 10 evil versions of Charles Xavier. Among them are Earth-12025’s Hercules and James Howlett - the latter described as a cross between Wolverine and Teddy Roosevelt. It was on the pages of 2013’s X-Treme X-Men #10 that the pair finally confessed their love for each other. It wasn’t just Earth-12025 that frowned on homosexuality, and even though the story was kept as an AU adventure, the bigots hate it when you remind them that at least one version of Wolverine was in a relationship with a man.
Closer to canon, 2020’s X-Men #7 really set tongues wagging when it suggested Jean, Scott, and Wolverine were in a polyamorous throuple. A diagram of the lunar Summer House showed that the three of them had interconnecting doors, but this was just the start of their potential romance. When Cyclops and Wolverine discussed the idea of “Scott in a Speedo,” Wolvie added, “Well, who could say no to that?" Despite it all being subtext, a dying Jean telepathically telling both of them that she loves them in X-Men: Hellfire Gala 2023 #1 has confirmed the trio's tryst as some people's headcanon.
More recently, the beloved X-Men ‘97 has led to viewers shipping Wolverine’s potential with Morph. A seemingly throwaway comment about Morph helping get to Logan’s “hard-to-reach places” in the shower sparked theories about their feelings toward each other. The season finale raised a few eyebrows when an emotional Morph turned into Jean and told Wolverine they “loved” him. Writer Beau DeMayo (himself openly gay) confirmed that even though Wolverine doesn't reciprocate, this was Morph confessing their feelings for Logan. We'll still hold a candle for them.
The X-Men have always been queer
The X-Men themselves have always represented diversity and the struggles that minorities face. Stan Lee famously told fans at Louisville’s Fandomfest in 2013 (via ComicBook.com), “I wanted them to be diverse. The whole underlying principle of the X-Men was to try to be an anti-bigotry story to show there's good in every person.” The irony is that Lee made this point to clap back against the backlash Andrew Garfield faced for suggesting Spider-Man could be bisexual.
Lee's musings remind us of what X-Men cartoonist Chris Wittert said at 2016’s New York Comic-Con (via CBR):
“'X-Men' in general is very obviously an allegory for the gay struggle... Even if the character isn't explicitly gay, I feel like there's this gay influence... These characters are influenced by outsider-hood and draw in audience members who have that same ideology." Going down the roster, it’s not just background characters of the X-Men who are flying their rainbow flags.
Northstar broke new ground when he came out as gay during 1992’s Alpha Flight #106 and adopted a baby that had tested positive for AIDS, but it would be another nine years until Bloke kissed his boyfriend goodbye in 2001’s X-Force #118. The potential censoring of this minor moment led to Marvel breaking away from the Comics Code Authority. Fans incorrectly pinpoint Shatterstar and Rictor locking lips as Marvel’s first gay kiss in 2009’s X-Factor #45, although that’s not to take away from this landmark moment as a first for two major characters.
It was always going to be easy to make the shapeshifting Mystique bisexual, but did you know that back in the day, she was originally envisioned as Nightcrawler’s father? After 40 years of queerbaiting, Kitty Pryde finally got to express her bisexuality in 2020's Marauders #12, and despite most considering it a clumsy retcon, the Omega-level Bobby “Iceman” Drake finally came out of the closet in 2015’s All-New X-Men #40. Even if Claremont didn’t get to make the OG Wolverine bisexual, we have had a bisexual one in the form of his son, Daken Akhiro. As Daken has served on Norman Osborn’s Dark Avengers while masquerading as Wolverine, that’s another time you can stick it to the haters and say we’ve had a bisexual Wolverine.
Sexuality on the silver screen
The X-Men have also tried to show their pride on the silver screen, with Sir Ian McKellen telling BuzzFeed how Bryan Singer sold him on the idea of playing Magneto in 2000’s X-Men on the basis of the team’s gay allegory. It was the same director who wrote a scene of Shawn Ashmore’s Iceman “coming out” as a mutant in its 2003 sequel. Unfortunately, we seem to have regressed in terms of more recent X-Men movies and the MCU in general. With the X-Men being so rich in LGBTQ+ history, it’s a shame that a character with a legacy like Deadpool has been accused of queerbaiting at the movies.
A 2016 cover for The Guardian’s The Guide promoted the first Deadpool via a glossy cover featuring a speech bubble that read, “Hey, wanna read an article about a foul-mouthed pansexual assassin?” It's ironic that Deadpool director Tim Miller told Collider he wanted it “quoted” that Deadpool is pansexual, but aside from the odd crass joke about fondling Wolverine’s testicles to get his own movie, the Deadpool franchise has yet to explore the character’s sexuality aside from him being in a heterosexual relationship with Morena Baccarin’s Vanessa.
Deadpool & Wolverine posters of our titular heroes holding hands with Taylor Swift-inspired bracelets suggest it will be more outdated jokes rather than actually exploring these themes, but while the whole joke of “Hey, these bros are gay for each other” might be running a little thin, the times are changing. We’re on the cusp of adding the X-Men to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and even if Deadpool & Wolverine might not be the best place to show the team’s LGBTQ+ credentials, we’re excited to see what the future holds for Iceman, Morph, Daken, and the rest.
If that involves Deadpool making the odd joke about Kevin Feige and pegging to ease us in, we’ll take it.
Further reading:
Deadpool: the pansexual superhero who has never had a non-heterosexual experience
X-Men: Cyclops and Wolverine Are Definitely Having Sex On The Moon
Tom is a Manchester-based writer who grew up on a diet of The Simpsons and the spandex-clad X-Men. Thinking of himself as something of a Gale Weathers, Tom is something of a horror hound and goes with the mantra of, "If it bleeds, it leads." When not rewatching A Nightmare on Elm Street 3, you can find Tom writing about all things Marvel, Star Wars, and Westerosi.
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One reason I’ve pretty much given up on the movies and am sticking with the comics is that the LGBTIQ+ characters and stories that have finally made it into canon in the latter go missing in the former. Yes, sure, queer readers/viewers are adept at decoding the subtext and queering the text, but the films are so far behind the comics it’s tiring.
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