Jean-Paul Beaubier, alias Northstar, is a mutant capable of moving at incredible speeds. Writer-artist John Byrne first hinted at Northstar’s sexuality in Alpha Flight # 7(2/84), in which Jean-Paul is reunited with an old, presumably gay friend named Raymonde.

It emerges that Raymonde had befriended Jean-Paul years ago when the young man was “frightened of what he thought he was, (leading) him out of that dark fear, into the bright light of self-acceptance, teaching him not to fear his mutant powers, or any other thing.” Raymonde is killed by a villain and avenged by Jean-Paul in the next issue.

Not much more is done with Northstar’s apparent orientation other than a recurrent reticence around women. A two-issue mini-series called X-Men and Alpha Flight (12/85-1/86), written by Chris Claremont, provides some veiled but nonetheless interesting interplay between Jean-Paul and a woman who has learned his (unnamed) secret.

Northstar’s near encounter with HIV

A new Alpha Flight writer, Bill Mantlo starts a storyline in which Northstar begins to show signs of a chronic illness in issue #42 (1/87). Later interviews with Mantlo revealed that the illness was intended to be AIDS. Wiser heads prevailed. The advisability of Marvel’s only possibly gay character dying of AIDS was viewed as a bridge too far for all sorts of reasons. Northstar’s illness was reconceived as an elfen lack of immunity to modern life. Yes, you read that correctly. That Northstar was actually half-elf was revealed in Alpha Flight issue #50 (9/87). Being outed as half-elf was apparently still preferable to being confirmed as totally gay.

Northstar finally comes out

Despite all of the hints, Northstar is not explicitly said to be gay and comes out as a gay man in a press release until Alpha Flight #106 (3/92). In a story reeking of a “very special episode,” the motivation for Jean-Paul’s coming out was finding a baby with HIV in a dumpster. Just wanting to be open about yourself to the wider world was apparently insufficient motivation. Alpha Flight as a comic book series is cancelled not long afterwards, so no further exploration of his identity was forthcoming. Northstar’s story is continued in his own 1994 mini-series which reverts back to an earlier reticence about his sexuality. Though this is an entire mini-series devoted to the supposedly openly gay hero, no direct reference is made of his homosexuality. Only the fully aware reader might catch some subtle hints between the lines.

Actual affirmation was found in an unlikely source. In a riff on Sports Illustrated‘s popular swimsuit edition, Marvel issued Swimsuit Editions their own for a few years. In one, a rather fetching looking Northstar is shown in a swimsuit next to Marvel’s only other out superhero, a fellow named Hector.

More gay-friendly storylines emerge

Northstar next appears in a new Alpha Flight series, dropping from the sky onto a fishing ship in the North Atlantic. In issue #8, he talks about his sexuality with a fisherman who has a gay son. More significant was when Northstar joined the X-Men for one storyline in 2001. (Jean-Paul was once again considered a mutant and not an elf!) Portrayed more openly gay than ever before, Northstar trades barbs with a homophobic, largely invulnerable young mutant named Paulie Provenzano. Their animosity is partially resolved when Paulie passes out and Northstar saves his life by giving him mouth-to-mouth to save his life. While Paulie is initially upset at this development, (“I knew it! I’m out for a second, and you’re over me like a cheap can of paint!”), he ultimately thanks the bemused Northstar.

Chuck Austen’s take on Northstar

In 2003, Chuck Austen takes over writing the Uncanny X-Men title, one of several featuring the X-Men at the time. While Austen’s run on the comic book is generally not well regarded by fans, he does make an effort to regularly feature Northstar.

In Uncanny X-Men #414, Professor Xavier invites Northstar to become a professor at his school for young mutants. He specifically seeks him out because of his gayness. As Professor X explains, “I have devoted my life to aiding those who genetic differences set them apart. We both know that ‘sexual preference’ is a misnomer. The term should more accurately be termed ‘sexual determination.’”

Northstar is injured at one point and casts a look of longing over at Iceman. A nurse in the facility’s medical bay notices and realizes that he has a crush on Bobby Drake. At this point, Iceman is portrayed as a wisecracking heterosexual horndog, but Austen plays at subtly suggesting that perhaps Drake is overcompesating.

At a bachelorette party for Polaris, a female mutant getting married to another mutant named Havok, Northstar concurs when one of the women complements a man’s butt. And when Northstar inquires about her romantic past with Iceman, she quips that women don’t sleep with Drake, they just endure him. This whole sequence seems intended to suggest Iceman is all talk, but also could be taken to suggest that perhaps Drake isn’t as interested in women as he puts on. Over a decade later, Iceman comes out in the comic books as gay. With this outcome in mind, perhaps Northstar wasn’t as foolish as he thought to lust after a presumably unavailable man.

In another development that had some readers scratching their heads during the Austen run on the X-Men, one the characters declares that mutants can’t contract AIDS. Where did that pronouncement come from, many wondered. For one, I suspect it was a reaction against the 1987 storyline in which Northstar was implied to have the disease. Or maybe Austen wanted to justify his characters tendency to freely bedhop during his authorial reign.

Backlash? Northstar is killed three times over

The year 2005 marked a particular low point for Marvel’s premiere gay superhero. An alternate version of Northstar had been introduced in a comic book called Ultimate X-Men, a series that featured an alternative narrative more like the movies and less weighed down by decades of previous storytelling.

Finally, a happy ending

Readers are introduced to his first steady boyfriend in Nation X #2, Kyle Jinadu, his personal event manager and publicist that his sister hired for him. Northstar rejoins Alpha Flight reluctantly in 2011. Rejoining the X-Men in 2012 he moves in with his boy friend and proposes to him, marriage being legal in New York. Their wedding occurs in a much publicized issue of Astonishing X-Men #51.

LGBTQ significance of Northstar’s character

Reviewing Northstar’s history as a character provides a mini-seminar on the treatment of LGBT characters in comic books.John Byrne’s introduction of Jean-Paul in Alpha Flight as a gay character in all but actual name was both groundbreaking and necessarily cautious. Bryne’s introduction of lesbian Maggie Sawyer over at DC was a bit more problematic, as the article on her in this website explores. The pitfalls that awaited even well meaning writers were revealed in Northstar’s brush with HIV and subsequent temptations to kill him off. This happened far too often not to be considered veiled homophobia. But by 2012, portraying a same-sex marriage ceremony was a commendable if relatively non-controversial move. The marriage of Midnighter and Apollo years before was far more daring.

For a time, it appeared that Northstar’s marriage marked the end of the company’s investment in the character. Whether Northstar would find a regular place in the Marvel universe or fade into obscurity seemed the ultimate test of Marvel’s good will towards the character.

A new home in X-Factor

It took awhile but Northstar gradually began to appear again in the Marvel Universe. His most promising recent appearances have been in a new version of X-Factor. Not only that, his long unseen husband was also a regular member of the cast. The title was unique for featuring several other queer characters as regulars, including the bisexual Daken (the son of Wolverine), and a guest appearance of Rictor.

Significant appearances of Northstar

X-Men 120-121 (4/79-5/79) Marvel

Alpha Flight 1-52, 55, 60-64, 66, 71, 81-82, 84-87, 89-124, 127-130 (8/83-3/94)

Northstar 1-4 (4/94-7/94)

Alpha Flight v2/6, 8, 12, 15, 17-20 (1/98-3/99)

X-Men/Alpha Flight 1-2 (5/98-6/98)

Wolverine 142-43, 145 (9/99-12/99)

Uncanny X-Men 392-393 (4/01-6/01), 414-422 (12/02-6/03)

New Mutants 2, 4, 7-8 (8/03-1/04)

Wolverine 25-31 (4/05-10/05)

Ultimate X-Men 46-47, 61-65, 79-81 (11/05?-6/07)

Uncanny X-Men various 508…534 (6/09-4/11)

Nation X  2 (3/10)

Alpha Flight v /0.1-8 (7/11-3/12)

Astonishing X-Men 48-59…68 (5/12-12/13)

Astonishing X-Men Annual 1 (1/13)

Amazing X-Men 1-15+ (1/14-x/15+)

Mark Carlson-Ghost