Marvel features the first superhero same-sex wedding in new Empyre issue

9th August 2020

Hulkling and Wiccan tied the knot in the latest Empyre issue.

The latest issue of Empyre has given LGBTQ+ fans of Marvel everything they ever wanted as same-sex power couple Hulkling and Wiccan got married.

Previous Marvel comics had featured same-sex weddings, but this is the first time that two queer superheroes have successfully tied the knot.

It had been established that the couple had gotten married, but fans finally got to see the wedding on the final page of issue 4 as Wiccan reminisces about the event, following Hulkling’s decision to lead an assault on the Cotati race.

Wiccan goes on to say that the Hulkling giving the orders is not the man that he initially married.

Queer Marvel fans have fully embraced and championed the relationship between Hulkling and Wiccan, with their co-creator, Allen Heinberg being surprised that fans had picked up on his subtle hints that the two were dating so quickly.

And last year, Brazil’s biggest newspaper, Folha de São Paulo, published a picture of the couple kissing to protest against a mayor’s homophobia. According to the paper’s editor, Sérgio Dávila, they wanted to “throw light on censorship threats” that the mayor posed, as he called for a Marvel comic, featuring the pair kissing, to be withdrawn from a book fair.

Talking about their wedding, Al Ewing, the writer for Empyre, said: “I’ve got a lot of love for Hulkling and Wiccan, both individually and as a couple. So it’s a good feeling to be able to deliver this kind of ‘shock ending’ for readers, which hopefully lifts fans’ spirits a little rather than bringing them down.”

And Jim Cheung, one of the creators of the characters, said: “Billy and Teddy really became fully fleshed people to me, thanks to Allan’s incredible writing, and it’s been wonderfully rewarding to follow their growth and evolution under the guidance of other creators over the years.

“Now that they’re taking their relationship to the next level, I can’t wait to watch where their next adventure takes them!”

Speaking about the inception of the power couple, Marvel executive Tom Brevoort said: “Originally, Allan pitched Hulkling as a female character using her shape-changing abilities to pose as a man. I suspect this was as close as Allan felt he could get to depicting an openly gay relationship in a Marvel comic.

“But as we got underway… he started to have second thoughts and approached me about maintaining Hulkling and Wiccan as two involved male characters.”

One fan writing about the importance of the moment on social media, said: “Can I just say, again, how awesome it is to have queer characters front and center of a major Marvel event? Not just front and centre, but it revolves around them? That they feel important. This means so much, and it’s all we ask for.”

And with upcoming Marvel films, The Eternals and Thor: Love and Thunder, hopefully its cinematic universe will start becoming as queer as the comics.