June 1 marks 🐭the start of Pride Month in the United States, in which the lives, legacies, and talents of LGBTQIA+ people are acknowledged and celebrated. And just like in the real world, LGBTQIA+ people are all over the Marvel and DC Universes and beyond, with queer superheroes becoming more common all the time.

But there are trailblazers who paved the way, including queer heꦫroes whose identities have been a part of their stories from the start, and those who, like many of us in the real world, came to understand their sexuality and gender identity later in life.

These are our picks for the most iconic LGBTQIA+ superheroes✅ of all time!

Tim Drake

One of the most recent heroes to come out as quꦰeer is also one of the most well-known to be part of the L🔯GBTQ+ community: Tim Drake, the third Robin.

After years of speculation and headcanon from fans and numerous relationship difficulties in comics, Tim came out as queer in 2021's Batman: Urban Legends #6, agreeing to go on a romantic date with hi🉐s male friend Bernard.

Though Tim's exploration of his own sexuality is just beginning, and Tim himself hasn't named his specific sexuality yet, he's officially joined the queer community. And like many of Tim's fans have done over the decades since his introduction, his sexuality and the lab🌱els he uses will likely evolve along his journey.

Welcome aboard, Tim!

Kitty Pryde

Kitty Pryde's sexuality remained a matter of speculation and unconfirmed implication for many years after her 1980 introduction. Her particularly intimate relationships w🔴ith Illyana Rasputin and Rachel Summers in their younger years hinted at Kitty's burgeoning sexuality - a fact later confirmed by her creator Chris Claremont, who stated in a 2016 interview that he always intended Kitty not just to be bisexual, but to ultimately end up with Rachel Summers.

Then, in 2020's Marauders #12, Kitty's bisexuality was finally confirmed✤ on the page🐷, as she shares a kiss with a female tattoo artist. The moment marked a major♛ turning point for queer X-Men fans, with decades of subtext, hints, and unconfirmed intent finally coming to fruition before readers' eyes.

Mystique

Unlike Kitty Pryde, her fellow mutant Mystique's sexuality has💖 been open - if not specifically, verbally confirmed - for many years, owing to her marriage to precognitive mutant Destiny, as well as her relationships with characters of other genders.

Out and proud as both a mutant and as a bisexual/pansexual person since long before many fans for whom queer representation has become much-needed aspect of their comic book experience, Mystique is one of Marvel's - 🍌and comic books' - original queer icons.

Incidentally, Mystiq꧂ue was co-created by Chris Claremont, who also co-created Kitty Pryde, and who developed a strong reputation for incorporating queer themes and characters into superhero comics for decades.

Aquaman/Jackson Hyde

Though he debuted as Aqualad, half-Atlantean Jackson Hyde has graduated to 🃏the mantle of Aquaman - which means that one of DC's flagshipꩲ characters will be a queer Black man, something almost unthinkable in a mainstream comic even just a few years ago.

Jackson - a fan-favorite character since his simultaneous debut in DC comic books and on the Young Justice animated series - has become somewhat emblematic of the rise of🎉 characters with queer identities in modern comic books, now coming fulꦗl circle into the role of Aquaman as one of DC's most unique legacy characters.

Alan Scott

The original Green Lantern🦩 Alan Scott has been in comic books since 1940, but it's only been since 2012 that he's b♐een out as a gay man. Though this revelation first took place with an alternate Alan Scott in DC's title during the 'New 52' era, the mainstream DC Universe version followed suit in 2021, coming out to his children Jade and Obsidian.

Interestingly, Alan Scott's son Obsidian has been out as a gay man since 2004, beating his dad to the punch and reflecting a rare, but very real experience shared by many readers who have multiple family members - ev💫en par🧔ents - who are queer.

Loki

Being magical in nature has lent Loki the ability to tak⛦e on many different forms and in those forms display m💮any different forms of attraction. 

As Loki put it in , Asgardian culture doesn’t share human concepts of sexuality and sexual identity. Characters regularly switch pronouns when referring to Loki based on his presentation, and Odin calls Loki his "child who is both [male and female]" indicating an acceptance of Loki's gender-fluid nature. Additionally, wrꦿiter Al Ewing confirmed that "🌼Loki is bi[sexual]" ahead of 2014's . And more recently, Ewing introduced they/them pronouns for Loki in The Immortal Thor, fully acknowledging Loki as genderqueer. 

While Loki has been a longtime villain and codifying villains as queer can b🔴e problematic, the character's recent hero turns have made them one of comic books' most popular and identifiable queer heroes.

Northstar

Jean-Paul Beau༺bier debuted in 1979 at a time when both the Comics Code Authority and Marvel's editor-in-chief Jim Shooter were opposed to openly gay characters, according to author Shirrel Rhoades in 2008's 🐠. 

Creator John Byrne has explained that Northstar was written as gay from the get-go, "even if I woul🙈d never be allowed to say it in so many words in the comic✨s themselves."

Despite not uttering the words "I am gay" until 1992's , Northstar has long been accಞepted by X-Men fans and comic book fans at large who picked up Byrne's nods as one of the first canonically gay superheroes since his inception. 

And Marvel changed their tune as time went on, opting to have Northstar marry his boyfriend Kyle Jinadu and publishing the first depiction of a same-sex wedding i♌n mainstream comic books in 2012's . 

Hulkling & Wiccan

If we had a list of great Marvel romances of the 21st centur🐬y (hey, that's not a bad idea!), Hulkling and Wiccan would surely be ꦬnear the top. 

Endur🎃ing Civil Wars, Secret Invasions, Original Sins and every event in between, openly-gay writer Allan Heinberg created th♋e pair in 2005's and reminded readers that Marvel's "world outside your window" included more than just the definitions of love that had been portrayed to that point.

The two also enabled other writers to create more realistic portrayals of sexuality in their team books as evidenced by Kieron Gilleꦕn and Jamie McKelvie's Young Avengers volume that also featured queer characters in Miss America, Prodigy, and Loki.

Recently, Wiccan and Hulꦡkling wer༺e married as part of the crossover.

Coagula

There are very few out trans characters in superhero comic books, but when transwoman writer Rachel Pollack took over the reins on Doom Patrol from Grant Morrison, she aimed to shift the focu🌠s. 

In wanting to create a positive portrayal of a queer trans woman, she created Kate G🔜odwin 🤡a.k.a. Coagula, a superhero with the ability to coagulate liquids and dissolve solids at will.

Initially rejected by the Justice League, Coagula found a home with the Doom Patr🎶ol, though she's rarely been seen in recent years.

Iceman

In 2015’s , the younger Bobby Drake was psychically outed as homosexual by Jean Grey, retroactivelyꦍ ma🐼king the founding member of the X-Men Marvel's highest-profile queer mutant. 

While Jean Grey's invasion of Bobby's privacy was problematic because he did not choose to🐲 come out on his own, making one of Marvel's oldest characters gay is notable in the way it reframes past an🌼d future stories. 

The controversy surrounding Iceman's outing may have muddied the waters a bit on wha𝔉t is an important moment in Marvel his♈tory, but it did allow readers and creators alike to participate in a dialogue about the realities of these situations in everyday life.

Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy

Harley Quinn's queerness has always been a bit up in the air. Comic creators made her abusive relationship with the Joker the focus of many of her stories, but subtle references that something more romantic may be going on have always been made about her🌳 relationship with Poison Ivy. 

But in 2015, Harley Quinn writers Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti c♎onfirmed that Harley and Ivy were non-monogamous girlfriends, cementing Harley's status as one of DC’s highest-profile queer characters and taking her interactions with Power Girl and Wonder Woman from potential queerbaiting to legitimate interest.

Even before their relationship was confirmed, Harley and Ivy were a fan-favorite power couple, especially for q💝ueer women. And now that they're both out - and took things even further in the Harley Quinn: The Animated Series: The Eat, Bang, and Kill Tour spin-off comic - Harley and Ivy are one of comics' most prominent on-again-off-again queer couples.

Constantine

Ol' Hellblazer has been confirmed bisexual since Brian Azzarello's '' matter-of-factly treated the character's 🎃queerness.

Thatဣ portrayal has allowed other writers to explore exactly what that means for the wayward magician. 

Bisexual writer James Tynion IV’s recent work on the characte🦹r reaffirmed Constantine’s fluid attraction and helped expand the kinds of stories that queer superhero characters can be expected to be a part of.

Midnighter and Apollo

Created as analogs of Batman and Superman, Apollo and Midnighter were among the first openly gay superheroes in comic books and were certainly the most visible gay sജuperhero couple in the late '90s and early '00s. 

When the Wildstorm Universe was folded into the DCU proper, they maintained their sexualities but their relationship was either off or completely erased before Steve Orlan𝓡do's title affirmed that they dated but were broken up in the 'New 52.'

Howev♛er, the success of that run led to a r🔯enewed interest in the characters, with the World’s Finest Couple getting together again in the 'Rebirth' era with the title.

Batwoman

A military brat. A soci🐽alite. A caped crusader. A lesbian? Kate Kane's military upbringing didn't make it easy for her to embrace her sexuality but her struggle definitely informed her heroism. 

While different writers have had varying degrees of success with Batwoman, there was no doubt about her sexuali꧒ty from the beginning, and fans embraced the character immediately, first in and then in a critically-acclaimed solo title. 

Before the launch of the 'New 52,' her relationship with GCPD Detective Renee Montoya was up there with our last entry on our list as a paragon for well-written, nuanced queer relationships🃏, and their visibility helped open up doors for many other characters moving forward.

Wonder Woman

Until just a few year🧜s ago, Wonder Woman's🦩 status as a queer character was contentious. 

She was created by William Moulton Marston, a psychologist (and inventor of the lie detector test), who believed that society itself would be better off in the hands of women rather than men. Based on a combination of his polyamorous romantic partners, Elizabeth Holloway and Olive Byrne, Diana Prince was born into Marston’s ideal vision and embodied his views on feminism. 🐻;

After Marston's death, the two women cꦬontinued his work, imbuing the character with a passion for social justice and maintaining the queer identity that is central to the character's earl🅠iest days.

Over the years, the subversive nature ♕of Wonder Woman had been lost as more writers took her on adventures more fitting a superhero than a feminist icon, and her sexuality was de👍fined in more binary terms due to relationships with Steve Trevor, Batman, and Superman. 

But former Wonder Woman writer Greg Rucka took✃ a definitive staꦗnce saying, "the answer is obviously yes," when asked about her sexuality, reaffirming that Wonder Woman has been and continues to be a queer character for all time.