Gambit was almost retconned to bisexual
1 Comments Published by Avi Green on Tuesday, February 06, 2018 at 12:51 PM.
Several weeks ago, CBR wrote about the writer James Asmus' intentions to turn Remy LeBeau into another SJW-catering statistic, and pointed to this head-shaking information on Bleeding Cool from 2015, where he confirmed what he wanted to do, but editorial decided to pass, which is pretty amazing considering where they went more recently with Iceman. Asmus told them:
I figure the reason Iceman fell victim to the social justice machine at Marvel was because they figured nobody cared about him as much as Gambit, or saw Bobby as the perfect sacrificial lamb because he's seemingly not the most prominent X-Man in the franchise by today's standards. And that's what makes these directions so irritating - they prey on the weakest links, those cast members they think will draw the least resistance if retconned, and that's how Iceman wound up getting frostbitten by social justice tactics. A most terrible shame indeed the X-Men have long been the biggest victims of SJWs.
It’s true that I was interested in revealing Gambit to be bisexual in our series – with us first seeing him seduce a man on one of his missions, and soon thereafter meeting a member of the thieves guild Gambit previously had a more significant relationship with in his pre-X-Men debut. I never got past pitching the first part, though, as word came down we wouldn’t be redefining the character as such.How about it all be left untampered? The character has long been seen as a sad botch job almost ever since his creation at the end of Chris Claremont's original 15 years on X-Men, and this wouldn't do anything to improve the dreadful characterization he was stuck with for many years. Mainly because, from the material I've seen...he's still depicted as a thief! I'm sure some would suggest that, because of the mishandlings, it'd be better had Gambit been subject to this, rather than Bobby Drake. But no, it would be just as huge a mistake as it was to turn Bobby inside out, making Gambit into a variation on John Constantine at DC, who was "revealed" as bisexual as far back as the mid-90s. On which note, fascinating how Asmus used that term rather than "retcon", or "change", because that's what he really wanted to do.
A few important disclaimers, though… first, I have no idea how high or low on the totem pole that decision was made, or for what reasons – but my editor on the book was the fabulous Daniel Ketcham who is an out man and prominent voice for LBGT diversity in comics. Though the memory is hazy (I pitched a LOT of different ideas for that book) I don’t think he was keen on the idea just from a practical / story stand point. And as I mentioned, I had lots of different concepts I was happy to explore – so in fairness, the No wasn’t something I fought against. And in hindsight, maybe that pitch was too half-baked? Either way, we never did anything to go against the idea he’s bisexual. So maybe someone else will craft that story?
I figure the reason Iceman fell victim to the social justice machine at Marvel was because they figured nobody cared about him as much as Gambit, or saw Bobby as the perfect sacrificial lamb because he's seemingly not the most prominent X-Man in the franchise by today's standards. And that's what makes these directions so irritating - they prey on the weakest links, those cast members they think will draw the least resistance if retconned, and that's how Iceman wound up getting frostbitten by social justice tactics. A most terrible shame indeed the X-Men have long been the biggest victims of SJWs.
Labels: golden calf of LGBT, marvel comics, moonbat writers, politics, X-Men
"I figure the reason Iceman fell victim to the social justice machine at Marvel was because they figured nobody cared about him as much as Gambit, or saw Bobby as the perfect sacrificial lamb because he's seemingly not the most prominent X-Man in the franchise by today's standards. And that's what makes these directions so irritating - they prey on the weakest links, those cast members they think will draw the least resistance if retconned, and that's how Iceman wound up getting frostbitten by social justice tactics."
I'm old enough to remember Wizard Magazine's Toyfare making their share of "no one cares" gags at Iceman's expense. Hell, they didn't much bother making a custom Mego figure of him, like Cyclops, Prof X, etc. As you said, I'm sure this was the real reason to do the same thing as DC did with Alan Scott. If you turn Hal Jordan or Guy Gardner gay, that's a big deal or could affect marketing? Alan Scott, however, "who?"
I'm sure the upcoming Gambit film, despite its many setbacks, is why Marvel's holding off in making Gambit bi. It's enough to devote Gambit/Rogue for the normie shippers, but would normie moviegoers dig bisexual Gambit?
I think Winick tried the same thing with Kyle Rayner, but racially with the half-Mexican deal. I'm not sure if that was retconned out or not.