6) Northstar
Northstar isn’t particularly well known outside of comic book circles, but as the first openly gay hero in Marvel’s history, the Canadian mutant has a pivotal role to play in LGBT representation. First appearing in the superhero team Alpha Flight, Northstar came out at a press conference in the comics, promoting LGBT rights within Marvel’s fictional world.
After this, Marvel only gave Northstar limited exposure for a number of years, until recently, when he finally married his long-term boyfriend, Kyle. Marvel appears to be making a concerted effort to promote diversity more in their comics these days and this event was hugely progressive for the established company.
Northstar has always been a team player, rarely appearing in his own solo outings, so a cinematic version is far more likely to appear in a future X-Men related title than his own film.
The campaign for an Alpha Flight movie starts here, people. Both Canadians and LGBT fans deserve more representation in their superhero movies, and characters such as Snowbird, Shaman and Northstar’s twin sister, Aurora, are all extremely underrated in comic book fandom.
No, I’m not sure what the hell Alpha Flight means either, but trust me. This could work.
