DC Comics Hero Green Lantern Comes Out as Gay

Last week, DC Comic publisher Dan DiDio hinted that a major character from his stable of superheroes would be coming out of the closet. And now we know which man (or woman) in tights that it is.

As part of DC's 'Earth 2,' a complete relaunch of its fictional universe, Green Lantern will be presented as a homosexual character. Of course, as comic book fans know, there are multiple Green Lanterns. But the one who is now gay is the original ring-wearer, Alan Scott. (So, for example, this doesn't retroactively render Blake Lively's character in the 'Green Lantern' movie a beard, since Ryan Reynolds was playing still-straight Green Lantern Hal Jordan.)

According to James Robinson, who writes 'Earth' 2 and came up with the idea for Scott to be reintroduced as gay, there won't be any big coming out scene for Green Lantern. Instead his sexuality will just be part of who he is, rather than a driver of storylines.

This continues a trend of gay acceptance in the comic book world. Last year Archie comics featured a gay wedding in its 'Life With Archie' series and earlier this month openly gay 'X-Men' character Northstar proposed to his boyfriend in an edition of Marvel's ‘Astonishing X-Men.

However, the comic book world hasn't always been so tolerant. Back in the '80s DC  featured a homosexual superhero named Extrano who embodied every crude stereotype of a gay man and was eventually infected with AIDS. We foresee a much more dignified run for Scott.