Batman outed in new novel
Speculation over Batman’s sexuality has been rife among comic book fans for decades but the superhero has now been ‘outed’ as an ageing homosexual who picks up young men for one-night stands.
According to novelist Marco Mancassola’s book Erotic Lives of the Superheroes, Gotham City’s masked crime fighter is in a gay relationship with his sidekick Robin and enjoys an ‘extreme’ sex life.
The novel, which centres on a murder mystery, also imagines the erotic obsessions of Superman, Mister Fantastic and Mystique as their heroic abilities are dulled by age.
This is not the first time the character has been ‘outed’ during his long and distinguished history on screen and in print.
Hollywood actor George Clooney, who played the crime fighter in the poorly received 1997 film Batman & Robin, also admitted that he intended the character to appear as gay.
In 2006 DC Comics reinvented Batwoman as a lesbian.
Italy-born Mancassola admits that, although some hardcore comics fans cannot forgive the homoerotic elements he has added to their beloved characters, he did not mean any offence.
