Culture

Marvel and DC announce new batch of variant covers ahead of Pride Month

By Jordan Robledo

21st March 2022

Marvel Entertainment and DC Entertainment
Marvel Entertainment and DC Entertainment

Marvel and DC Comics have teased their new LGBTQ+ variant covers ahead of Pride Month.

Last June, the comic book giants each announced their own queer anthology series centred around their most prominent LGBTQ+ superheroes.

Along with the new batch of speciality stories, DC and Marvel also released an array of Pride-themed covers that featured characters like Wonder Woman, Northstar, Nightwing, Destiny, Superman and more.

Recently, the two companies gave LGBTQ+ fans a sneak peek into the new batch of releases for Pride 2022.

On 15 March, DC revealed that their beloved anthology series, DC Pride 2022, is set to drop on 31 May.

Alongside the highly-anticipated release, the company announced three new limited series featuring Poison Ivy, Nubia, Teen Justice and Tim Drake, aka Robin.

In regards to the new variant covers, Harley Quinn, Conor Kent, Nightwing, Wonder Woman, Aquaman and Batman are just some of the heroes set to appear.

For fans of Marvel, the company announced plans to release another instalment of the critically acclaimed Marvel’s Voices: Pride series.

On 15 March, they also revealed eight new variant covers featuring Somnus, Aaron Fischer, Destiny, Iceman, Karma, America Chavez, Valkyrie and Daken.

Aaron Fischer, who’s also known as the Captain America of the Railways, will be on the first cover released on 1 June. Destiny, Karma and America Chavez are then set to complete the queer-friendly rollout on 29 June.

Aside from their Pride Month-themed releases, DC and Marvel have steadily increased the amount of LGBTQ+ characters within their respective universes.

In August 2021, Tim Drake was introduced as bisexual in Batman: Urban Legends.

Jon Kent, who recently took on the Superman mantle, came out as bisexual in his new series, Superman: Son of Kal-El.

Writers also introduced a trans Amazon and a queer Wonder Woman in Nubia & The Amazons and Dark Knights of Steel, respectively.

In March 2022, Marvel celebrated the 80th anniversary of Captain America by releasing the limited series The United States of Captain America – which featured a queer version of the character.

A few months later, Marvel took to Twitter and announced the arrival of the mysterious Somnus.

“Introducing Somnus! The new mutant hero makes his debut this June in “Marvel’s Voices: Pride” #1, written by [Steve Orlando] with art by [Claudia Guirre] and character design by [Luciano Vecchio],” the tweet read.

Peter Quill was also confirmed as a bisexual in the Guardians of the Galaxy #9 comic by writer Al Eewing.

We cant wait to dive into the new Pride Month covers and stories later this year.