DC Cancels Bisexual Superman Comic Series

Superman: Son of Kal-El, a DC comic book series about a bisexual Superman, has been cancelled due to plummeting sales. The series’ 18th edition will be released in December this year and is the final edition of the series after only having debuted last year.

Jon Kent, the protagonist of the series, is the 17-year-old son of Clark Kent and Lois Lane. The new young Superman did not shy away from current political and social issues. The comic book series tackled climate change, school shootings and the deportation of refugees.

“New Superman had to have new fights — real world problems — that he could stand up to as one of the most powerful people in the world,” said the series’ author, Tom Taylor, in an interview with the New York Times last year.

In the fifth edition of the series, Jon Kent begins a romantic relationship with his male friend.

“The idea of replacing Clark Kent with another straight white saviour felt like a missed opportunity,” said Taylor.

Unfortunately, the loss of a bisexual Superman is a great one as LGBTQI+ superheroes seem to be few and far between, especially in film and television.

In light of this loss, here are some notable examples of recent queer superheroes on screen: 

Kate Kane

CW’s Batwoman which aired its final episode earlier this year notably included a lesbian Batwoman, Kate Kane. The character was revealed to be queer at the beginning of the series with the introduction of her ex-girlfriend, Sophie Moore.

When Kane was in school, she punched a fellow student who started a rumour that she was gay. Later, when she became Batwoman, she came out as a lesbian to thwart rumours that she was dating a male cop.

Phastos

Eternals came out at the end of last year and debuted Marvel Cinematic Universe’s first openly gay character with super-powers, Phastos. Phastos is an immortal being called an Eternal. Eternals have lived among humanity for over 7,000 years, protecting humanity from evil in the form of ‘the Deviants’.

In the film Phastos is shown on his front lawn alongside his husband and child. Phastos’ family are key to his dramatic arc and play a role in restoring the character’s faith in humanity.

Valkyrie

Although Valkyrie’s bisexuality was only shown through a passing line about the character’s deceased ex-girlfriend in Thor: Love and Thunder, to have a queer super-powered character in a franchise as large as Thor is extremely welcome.

Tessa Thompson, the actress who plays Valkyrie and identifies as bisexual herself told Yahoo! Entertainment in June this year, “I think rightfully there’s this real want in audiences to see characters be very clearly queer or LGBTQIA inside these spaces. And I think it’s hugely important to have representation”.

“I feel really good, personally, about where we got to. I hope that she’s a character that fans continue to connect to, that we have a lot of time to explore her, in all of her humanity. But whether or not she finds love in this movie doesn’t mean she’s not still a fabulous queer character that is open to finding love when it makes sense.” Thompson said.

What’s Next?

A bisexual Superman was a giant leap in the right direction in terms of queer representation, particularly as Superman is a very well-known and traditionally masculine superhero. That’s why it’s such a shame that Superman: Son of Kal-El has been axed.

As Tom Holland, the actor who plays Spiderman, said in an interview with The Sunday Times back in 2019, “The world isn’t as simple as a straight white guy. It doesn’t end there, and these films need to represent more than one type of person.”

It seems that the superhero genre still has a long way to go in representing queer characters.