Even the DCEU gets a nod for its first TV entry where James Gunn confirmed John Cena's Peacemaker as the DCEU's first openly queer superhero. The show stars Matt Bomer and Matthew Zuk as Larry Trainor/Negative Man, a gay superhero, and the genderqueer Danny The Street (later Danny The Brick and Danny The Ambulance) uses they/them pronouns and provides a home for people shunned by society. While its connection to the Arrowverse is sometimes forgotten, Doom Patrol has followed the trend of LGBTQ+ representation in DC TV shows in spades. The Arrowverse has included many queer heroes of color as well, such as Black Lightning's Anissa Pierce and Batwoman's Ryan Wilder, who took over for Kate in season 2. These characters and their relationships weren't always represented in the best way, but the Arrowverse was often the first to even attempt to include these identities in a meaningful way, and they also weren't afraid to learn from their mistakes and adapt with time.īatwoman had its first LGBTQ+ superhero starring in her own show, instead of just being a supporting character in someone else's story, and Kate Kane's queerness felt a lot different from many of the other Arrowverse characters in a refreshing way. Supergirl not only featured a prominent lesbian relationship, but also had its introduced the first trans hero on TV, Dreamer, authentically portrayed by a trans actress (Nicole Maines). Sara later became a main character in DC's Legends of Tomorrow, where she eventually fell in love with and married another woman. Its first queer character was introduced in Arrow season 2 when Sara Lance revealed she was bisexual, and since then, Arrow and its many spin-off shows have included numerous LGBTQ+ characters. These tiny moments of representation don't hold a candle to the Arrowverse.
Not only did their subtle allusion to would-be princesses or princes disappoint viewers, but Loki later seemed to outright contradict the character's genderfluidity by cracking a joke at the unlikelihood of a female Loki variant. Yet, this promise boiled down to a single conversation he had with his female variant Sylvie, in which they both admitted to being interested in more than one gender. Loki is bisexual and genderfluid in the comics, and many LGBTQ+ viewers were excited by the promise that Loki would explore its lead's queerness. The only other openly queer characters were Kate's LARPer friend Wendy Conrad, who mentioned having a wife in a throwaway line in Hawkeye, and Loki from his own Disney+ series.