I just wanted to say I am shocked and overjoyed by this development... WOW! I'm glad Marvel had the courage to go with this storyline!

You've already posted in various other Rictor & Shatterstar threads.  Does this honestly need another??

I hate it. Shatty-Buns isn't gay. Rictor I don't care about, but Star is my dude. Next, their gonna have him the clingy girlfriend in the relationship.

I can see Shatterstar being gay, since he'd never had any sexual or romantic relationship before.  As Rictor was the person he's been closest to, then it isn't too surprising that he's become attracted to him.  However, he'd never had any relation before and Rictor was very much a brooding & macho stud... This twist in their relationship isn't realistic, it's more of a satirical spin on two muscular fighting characters who typified what comics in the 1990's stood for.

Finally?  You've been waiting for Shatterstar and Rictor to make out?  You've been waiting for Shatterstar to do anything?

@Ripcord said:

"I hate it. Shatty-Buns isn't gay. Rictor I don't care about, but Star is my dude. Next, their gonna have him the clingy girlfriend in the relationship. "

At first he didn't have any emotions, what happened?

Peter David

Well this is nice to see.  Now maybe Marvel will actually have the courage to create a few gay characters who aren't B and C-listers.  Here's an idea: Cap coming back will also be a chance for Cap to come out.  That's right, Steve Rogers is gay.  Now that would be a courageous and awesome development.

i said the same thing not too long ago!

"Finally?  You've been waiting for Shatterstar and Rictor to make out?  You've been waiting for Shatterstar to do anything?

@Ripcord said:

"I hate it. Shatty-Buns isn't gay. Rictor I don't care about, but Star is my dude. Next, their gonna have him the clingy girlfriend in the relationship. "

Because God forbid Shatterstar get some character development after getting absolutely none for years."

how did they screw him up??? 

"They screwed him up, Zoom. I'm sure other writers could see that and left him alone. It's been building to this ever since X-Force#44. I was hoping they didn't do it, but they did. This is crap, but if it leads to a fight between Star and Wolvesbane, I'll be happy to see him whip her tail. "

"how did they screw him up???  "

Eh, Im ok with it. Seems interesting enough to me. Although, I love how Rob Liefeld said that it was horrible writing and that Shatterstar was a spartan and not gay. I think someone should tell him that many Spartans were involved intimately with members of the same sex, at least while they were younger, because of how they seperated the sexes for training and preparing them for adulthood in Spartan society. Im also pretty sure they were one of the first greek nations to do this, so its funny that Liefeld called him a Spartan LOL.

However, I dont think he is gay, I just think he is attracted to Rictor and only Rictor because of their buddy buddyness...he is Rictorsexual LOL

"@Ripcord said:

"They screwed him up, Zoom. I'm sure other writers could see that and left him alone. It's been building to this ever since X-Force#44. I was hoping they didn't do it, but they did. This is crap, but if it leads to a fight between Star and Wolvesbane, I'll be happy to see him whip her tail. "

No, other writers left him alone because he was a crap character designed by Rob Liefeld.Peter David is all about breathing life into crap characters (see: Snapper Carr) and he did it again.  Good for Shatterstar. "

" Well this is nice to see.  Now maybe Marvel will actually have the courage to create a few gay characters who aren't B and C-listers.  Here's an idea: Cap coming back will also be a chance for Cap to come out.  That's right, Steve Rogers is gay.  Now that would be a courageous and awesome development. "

"He was not a crap character. He was a great character. Him being designed by Liefeld has nothing to do with it. Ever since X-Force # 44 he was different. They drained the life out of him somehow. Read some earlier X-Force stuff and still tell me he was crap. "

" @Zoom said:

"@Ripcord said:

"They screwed him up, Zoom. I'm sure other writers could see that and left him alone. It's been building to this ever since X-Force#44. I was hoping they didn't do it, but they did. This is crap, but if it leads to a fight between Star and Wolvesbane, I'll be happy to see him whip her tail. "

No, other writers left him alone because he was a crap character designed by Rob Liefeld.Peter David is all about breathing life into crap characters (see: Snapper Carr) and he did it again.  Good for Shatterstar. "

He was not a crap character. He was a great character. Him being designed by Liefeld has nothing to do with it. Ever since X-Force # 44 he was different. They drained the life out of him somehow. Read some earlier X-Force stuff and still tell me he was crap. "

" @Alexander Anderson said:

" Well this is nice to see.  Now maybe Marvel will actually have the courage to create a few gay characters who aren't B and C-listers.  Here's an idea: Cap coming back will also be a chance for Cap to come out.  That's right, Steve Rogers is gay.  Now that would be a courageous and awesome development. "

i'd rather they created a new a-lister and made him gay.  its kinda silly to take an established heterosexual and make them gay for... what?  to say you have a gay a-lister?  take someone who hasnt been shown as being straight all these years.  they could take mr a billion exploding suns and make him gay.  that would make more sense to me. "

" @Apparition said:

" @Alexander Anderson said:

" Well this is nice to see.  Now maybe Marvel will actually have the courage to create a few gay characters who aren't B and C-listers.  Here's an idea: Cap coming back will also be a chance for Cap to come out.  That's right, Steve Rogers is gay.  Now that would be a courageous and awesome development. "

i'd rather they created a new a-lister and made him gay.  its kinda silly to take an established heterosexual and make them gay for... what?  to say you have a gay a-lister?  take someone who hasnt been shown as being straight all these years.  they could take mr a billion exploding suns and make him gay.  that would make more sense to me. "

Technically he is not gay or straight, he is supposedly asexual and until now, has shown no attraction to either sex. Although there are claims that hints were dropped in X-Force showing that he was very "close" with Rictor, which is how this whole thing came about. "

@pixelized said:

"@Zoom said:

"He was crap.  Everything about X-Force sucked.  Everything. "

I SO AGREE! Boom Boom had zero development until Sabretooth, whom she magical befriended, killed Psylocke. Shatterstar was so one dimensional, as was Rictor. Warpath was too into Siryn, Siryn was too into Alcohol, and Sunspot would Disappear for 20 issues at a time. Cannonball and Cable were the only ones who got any shine in that awful, awful book. "

She had more names than personality.  That one issue of Uncanny made me like her and then I went and bought a bunch of X-Force comics only to find that the character didn't exist anywhere else and was just a generic woman who could make things explode in her other book.  Very annoyed.

The worst thing about it imo, is that Warpath had a personality before he joined X-Force, as did Cannonball.  Cannonball was awesome in New Mutants and the issue with the original Thunderbird's funeral was outstanding.  Then X-Force came along and they forgot to have personalities.

" @Lifeguard85 said:

" @Apparition said:

" @Alexander Anderson said:

" Well this is nice to see.  Now maybe Marvel will actually have the courage to create a few gay characters who aren't B and C-listers.  Here's an idea: Cap coming back will also be a chance for Cap to come out.  That's right, Steve Rogers is gay.  Now that would be a courageous and awesome development. "

i'd rather they created a new a-lister and made him gay.  its kinda silly to take an established heterosexual and make them gay for... what?  to say you have a gay a-lister?  take someone who hasnt been shown as being straight all these years.  they could take mr a billion exploding suns and make him gay.  that would make more sense to me. "

Technically he is not gay or straight, he is supposedly asexual and until now, has shown no attraction to either sex. Although there are claims that hints were dropped in X-Force showing that he was very "close" with Rictor, which is how this whole thing came about. "

ok but i was talking about captain america and the void's better half, not shatterstar "

I completely agree. Other than being Cannonball's arm candy for 30 issues, she had no role. There was the little girl she met that was a prostitute, but by the next issue all of that was forgotten. fast forward 10 issues to where Cannonball leaves and she has to find a new guy to attach herself to so she chooses Sabretooth? gross. Annnnnnnnnnnnd, in the beginning she had an ounce of Spunk and Flare, that was switched out for Ditz and Naivety in later on in the series. 

Also about Warpath i like how he Magically lost like 120 pounds from where he began. Everyone in X-Force was washed of their personality.. except Feral, i'm inclined to believe that she was always blood thirsty. 

" @Alexander Anderson said:

" Well this is nice to see.  Now maybe Marvel will actually have the courage to create a few gay characters who aren't B and C-listers.  Here's an idea: Cap coming back will also be a chance for Cap to come out.  That's right, Steve Rogers is gay.  Now that would be a courageous and awesome development. "

i'd rather they created a new a-lister and made him gay.  its kinda silly to take an established heterosexual and make them gay for... what?  to say you have a gay a-lister?  take someone who hasnt been shown as being straight all these years.  they could take mr a billion exploding suns and make him gay.  that would make more sense to me. "

" @Apparition said:

" @Alexander Anderson said:

" Well this is nice to see.  Now maybe Marvel will actually have the courage to create a few gay characters who aren't B and C-listers.  Here's an idea: Cap coming back will also be a chance for Cap to come out.  That's right, Steve Rogers is gay.  Now that would be a courageous and awesome development. "

i'd rather they created a new a-lister and made him gay.  its kinda silly to take an established heterosexual and make them gay for... what?  to say you have a gay a-lister?  take someone who hasnt been shown as being straight all these years.  they could take mr a billion exploding suns and make him gay.  that would make more sense to me. "

But see, then they would be creating a gay A-lister just to have a gay A-lister.  That character's major defining attribute would be that he or she was gay.  By "outing" an established A-lister, Marvel is saying that their sexual orientation is only one aspect of who they are, in addition to all the other facets of their character that we're familiar with.  Obviously, it would be very important to choose the right character for this, and I think Cap fits the bill well.  None of his heterosexual relationships have struck me as particularly fiery or genuine, and the power and symbolism of having Steve Rogers, the living symbol of the American Dream and pinacle of male physical perfection, be a gay man secretly trying to find acceptance in an America he is supposed to represent would be brilliant.  It would be courageous.  It would probably be the awesomest, most foreward thinking move in the last twenty years of comics.  Marvel would catch tons of flak for it, fans would either be awe-struck or outraged, there would be a huge controversy, and it would be staggering.  The best move ever.  Revolutionary and daring, in keeping with Marvel's tradition of representing alternative conceptions of heroism.  Of course, it will never happen in a million years, but I wish it would.As for making Sentry gay, who would care?  Most people hate Sentry anyway, he has no personality other than being weird and mentally unstable since most of his writing up to this point has been crap, and he has no resonance with the public outside of comic-book fans.  There would be no symbolism, no meaning, no point.  It would just be throwing a bone with another token gay character, and a shameless ripoff of the Apollo angle from the Authority, which was done better than Marvel could ever hope to manage.  If you're going to reveal that an A-lister is gay, it has to be someone well-known, a big name, someone that will make headlines and make people think about how they view the character.  It has to serve a higher purpose than just representing token diversity or whatever.  This is a chance to make history if Marvel has the balls to take it. "

black panther's a great black character but imagine if instead of making a black character, they just decided to change a character from white to black.  maybe a character whose being white was an intricate part of their character.  has black panther, luke cage, falcon, or any other black character just seemed like a complete token for diversity?  maybe at first but as they built their own storylines, they certainly dont seem like that now.we're obviously not going to agree on this, but to me, rewriting cap as a gay man would just come across as phony. "

" @Apparition said:

black panther's a great black character but imagine if instead of making a black character, they just decided to change a character from white to black.  maybe a character whose being white was an intricate part of their character.  has black panther, luke cage, falcon, or any other black character just seemed like a complete token for diversity?  maybe at first but as they built their own storylines, they certainly dont seem like that now.we're obviously not going to agree on this, but to me, rewriting cap as a gay man would just come across as phony. "

I don't think the comparison to race holds water in this situation.  People can go through a good chunk of their lives appearing to be heterosexual, being in relationships, even getting married and having children, all while actually being homosexual in their orientation.  I've known people who have gone through this, including members of my family.  Thus, it would be possible for Cap to come out, even if it was very jarring (and it would be a shocking, even traumatic move, don't get me wrong).  The same can't be said for race; there's no plausible way that a black character could just become white, or vice-versa.  As for the comparisons to Cage, Falcon and BP, that's a whole different very complex set of issues.  In short, yes, those characters did grow beyond their "token" origins to varying degrees, but the stigma of those origins is still palpable in all three of them even today, and it certainly wasn't planned out by their creators.  And again, race isn't the same as sexual orientation, even if there are parallels in the struggle for acceptance that's going on today.  There are only so many comparisons you can draw.  I don't want to open that can of worms tonight though.  Let's just agree to disagree on the point of Cap's sexuality.  It's a completely subjective preferrence in storytelling, and I definitely get where you're coming from with it feeling phony.  If they did do it, it would have to be done very well or not at all. "

Speaking of Cap being gay...

She had a jetpack in Nextwave, under that big ass trench coat

they were given out in the first issue or so.

"She had a jetpack in Nextwave, under that big ass trench coat "

I saw and read the comic and said...FINALLY!

oh, well... I read some old X-force stuff with these guys and seeing them together is just the way to go. The kiss may mean a lot of things, they may not even end up after a few issues depends on how many angry fans will write them to kingdom come. Anyway, I am open minded with these guys ever since their overly close friendship during their hay days. What is important at the end of the day is for them to be happy and not hurt any other girl (or boy) with their relationship.

now, lets move on with Wolverine and Sabretooth... :-P

"She had a jetpack in Nextwave, under that big ass trench coat "

"Ant-Man and his dirty little feet"

"@pixelized said:

"She had a jetpack in Nextwave, under that big ass trench coat "

so every male avenger hit on Monica?!  That's something I find kinda hard to believe.  "

Who can blame him?  Storm is a clasier lady, while Monica puts it about! ;)

"Well this is nice to see.  Now maybe Marvel will actually have the courage to create a few gay characters who aren't B and C-listers.  Here's an idea: Cap coming back will also be a chance for Cap to come out.  That's right, Steve Rogers is gay.  Now that would be a courageous and awesome development."

"@pixelized said:

"She had a jetpack in Nextwave, under that big ass trench coat "

so every male avenger hit on Monica?!  That's something I find kinda hard to believe.  "