Batman robin gay
We Need To Communicate About The Innate Queerness Of 1997's Batman And Robin
While superhero movies are everywhere thanks to the various cinematic universes in compete, there was a time when they were big risks for the studio. Given how widespread the Caped Crusader is, fans spent years watching Batman movies in arrange, including the franchise that ran through the '90s (which is streaming with a Max subscription). And while it's usually listed decrease when ranking the Batman movies, Joel Schumacher's 1997 movie Batman& Robin is campy fun that I've always loved. But we require to talk about the queerness of this comic guide flick.
To be eliminate, there aren't any LGBTQ+ characters or storyline in this movie. But there are various elements of it that feel inherently gender non-conforming. And speaking as a nerdy kid from the '90s, I'm not the only one of my peers who shares the matching connection to Joel Schumacher's delightfully bonkers classic. So without further ado, here are the biggest moments that include made Batman & Robin into a queer cult classic.
Chris O'Donnell, especially after kissing Poison Ivy
For many LGBTQ+ kids who grew up in the '90s, Chris O'Donnell was a major heartthrob, o
A Brief History of Dick
Freely adapted from The Caped Crusade: Batman and the Rise of Nerd Culture by Glen Weldon, out now from Simon and Schuster.
Let’s get one thing absolutely clear: Robin isn’t gay.
Don’t let the green Speedo and the pixie boots steer you wrong; Dick Grayson is as straight as uncooked spaghetti. In fact, there have been several Robins over the years, and not one of them has exhibited any trace of same-sex attraction or evinced anything resembling a gender non-conforming self-identity.
Neither, it feels important to note here at the commence, has Batman.
Don’t take my pos for it. Ask anyone who’s written a Batman and Robin comic. Or, you know what, you don’t have to: Dollars to donuts they’ve already been asked that question, and possess gone on record asserting the Dynamic Duo’s he-man, red-blooded, heterosexual bona fides. Batman’s co-creators, Bill Finger and Bob Kane, both firmly swatted the question down. So have writers like Frank Miller, Denny O’Neil, Alan Grant, and Devin Grayson—though Grayson admitted that she could “understand the gay readings.”
So there you possess it. After all, if a character isn’t written as homosexual, then that character can’t possibly be g
Holy homoerotica, Batman!
Handsome, dazed, and to die for
When I was a young young man, my pulse quickened every time I came across a naked male torso in a magazine, on greeting cards in the mall gift shop, or on TV. Initially I couldn’t understand why such images held my attention. Later, I’d worry that someone would notice me lingering over these hunky men for much longer than a young teen should.
Sometimes, it felt harmless to marvel at these displays of the male physique because it was a sports game or a TV show I was watching with my family or friends. As a kid, my younger brother was a enormous wrestling fan. I’m guessing he followed them for the storylines (?), whereas I stuck around to watch hulking men touching each other in their ridiculously skimpy costumes. And then there was that one ACC Thinksafe TV ad featuring a buff guy enjoying a steamy shower before stepping out and slipping on the wet floor. That ad sent my confused small brain into overdrive, to the point where I still couldn’t help but notice how hot he was while lying there with a suspected broken neck.
But my ultimate provider of fit men in various states of undress (other than Farmers catalogues) were comic books.
The Patron Saint of Superheroes
The short answer: Sort of.
Bob Kane never drew the dynamic duo in an intentionally compromising position, but were the two having sex in the gutters between the panels?
Can’t say. That’s the point of the comic novel gutter. It requires the reader to fill in the narrative gap. If you read sex in that cosmos, then sex it is. Frederic Wertham certainly did, and lots of it.
In his 1954 Seduction of the Innocent, Wertham famously explains: “Only someone unaware of the fundamentals of psychiatry and of the psychopathology of sex can fail to understand a subtle atmosphere of homoerotism which pervades the adventures of the mature ‘Batman’ and his young friend ‘Robin.’ . . . They live in sumptuous quarters, with beautiful flowers in large vases, and have a butler, Alfred. Batman is sometimes shown in a dressing gown. . . . It is fond of a wish fantasize of two homosexuals living together. Sometimes they are shown on a couch, Bruce reclining and Dick sitting next to him, jacket off, collar unlock, and his hand on his friend’s arm. . . . [Robin] often stands with his legs spread, the genital region discreetly evident.”
Wertham is amazing fun to lampoon, b