Spoilers ahead. You’ve been warned. For more read our Marauders #12 review.
X-Men has long had some of the best representation of diversity and tolerance in Big Two superhero comics. For decades though, the X-Men line has been hinting, teasing, and queerbaiting the fact that Kitty Pryde (who now goes by Kate Pryde) is queer. It’s something Kate Pryde’s fans — and co-creator Chris Claremont — have always wanted to be confirmed. Why couldn’t Marvel Comics finally give fans a same-sex kiss?
Fans can now conclusively say, thanks to Gerry Duggan and Matteo Lolli’s Marauders #12, that Kate is queer. The series has hinted at it, but it’s confirmed this week when Kate kisses another woman.
Credit: Marvel Comics
As our own Sam Rutzick put it in his review of Marauders #12:
This is a canonically queer Kate Pryde. This is a Kate who is clearly in love with Rachel Grey and Illyana Rasputin, and they clearly love her in turn. But after decades and decades of subtext, having Kate finally kiss a girl on panel, without any sort of middle ground or deniability, is an important step. Krakoa has been a place where queerness in the X-Men has been foregrounded, and as perhaps the most subtextually queer superhero, it’s about time to see her do that.
The best part is, in the very next scene the creative team didn’t make it such a huge deal, but a natural one. They avoided drawing attention it and thus making it seem abnormal. That’s good representation.
Credit: Marvel Comics
It’s quite clear the Dawn of X and everything coming out of HOX and POX is going in the right direction when it comes to fan-favorite opportunities coming true. Just in recent weeks, X-fans have been treated to plot twists they never thought possible in regular Marvel continuity. In X-Force #10, Jogan shippers got to see Wolverine and Jean Grey in an oh-so steamy Krakoan hot tub. Then, in X-Men #11, every reader who ever believed Magneto was right got to see the master of magnetism leading some A-list X-Men into battle as a legendary mutant hero of the island nation!
While Kitty Pryde has been in several high-profile relationships with some of Marvel’s most famous heroes like Colossus and Star-Lord, actual X-Men comics through the decades have hinted that Kitty Pryde and Rachel Summers were in some kind of relationship. Women Write About Comics did a great rundown of all the relationships of Kitty Pryde that is incredibly thorough and well worth a look.
This is a huge moment in X-Men history in part because X-Men comics have subverted Kate Pryde’s queerness for decades, but finally, without a doubt, fans can embrace the developments in Marauders #12 knowing the queerbaiting and subversion is over.
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