Gay DC Character In The Works? DC Comics? Dan DiDio Gives Tidbits at Kapow 2012

The week after U.S. President Barack Obama officially declared his endorsement for gay marriage, DC Comics' co-publisher Dan DiDio announced at Kapow 2012 in London that there is a gay character in the works, but the plans have slightly changed since the first announcement in July 2011.

At the Kapow Comic Convention in London on Saturday, DiDio said an established character from DC Comics will be reintroduced as gay in the New 52 comic collection. According to BleedingCool.com, DiDio said the superhero who was previously assumed to be straight will be one of our most prominent gay characters. So far, there are no clues as to which character it might be, but there are dozens of possibilities like a character from the Ravagers or Tim Drake, according to ScienceFiction.com.

The news comes more than a year after DiDio told The Advocate that DC Comics would feature a gay superhero.

What we really wanted to do was show the diversity of our audience across the line of our books, he told The Advocate of introducing LGBT characters. Right now we have such a wide fan base and we wanted to create characters and stories that really reflected [that] fan base.

However, he said that the gay character would be brand-new, as opposed to reintroducing a known character last July.

So was it coincidence that DC Comics' initiative to include a gay character came as the country hails the first president to publically endorse gay marriage. Senior vice president Bob Wayne said the company's view of sexual orientation has evolved, directly borrowing words from President Obama.

The move also comes as Marvel Comics is rumored to be writing the first-ever same-sex superhero wedding to be released in a comic in June, with Z-Men's Northstar set to marry boyfriend Kyle in Astonishing X-Men.