Former ‘Teen Titans’ writer/current ‘Titans’ executive producer Geoff Johns has hinted that during the next season, the new live action superhero series could introduce a newer cast member who is gay, specifically Bunker. While promoting the series, Johns did a Q&A with TV Line and when asked about introducing an LGBTQ character, he affirmed:
“Of course. There’s one Titan that already is gay, that we’ve talked about bringing on — probably next season.”
So yeah, the Teen Titans/Titans have had about ten thousand members, and out of that, ONE is “already” gay. That honor goes to Bunker, a.k.a. Miguel Jose Barragan, who was a new character created for the New 52 relaunch, written by Scott Lobdell with art by Brett Booth. He had the power to create energy bricks which he could use to build an infinite number of constructs– similar to Green Lantern, but more LEGO-like.
Actually, that’s not quite correct. Looking at the group shot on top, I noticed that Hero Cruz is depicted to the far left. This was an openly gay character that originated in the ’90s ‘Superboy and the Ravers’ series that at some point was apparently made a Titan. I don’t recall this happening, but I guess it did at some point.
Hero Cruz was an updating of the old ‘Dial H for Hero’ concept from DC’s Silver and Bronze Ages. (Huh… guess all gay superheroes have purple costumes? Is that a thing?)
There are a few others– male and female– where I wouldn’t be surprised if they were to realize they were gay and suddenly come out. That might work better than to take some obscure forgotten character and try and make them matter simply because they are gay.
But a show about teens or young adults isn’t complete without some LGBTQ representation.
