Spoiler Alert--As expected Marvel’s major announcement on the ABC network talk show The View this morning was that the Canadian-born mutant Northstar would be wedding his longtime boyfriend Kyle in the pages of Astonishing X-Men #51, which goes on sale in June and features a festive wraparound cover. Marvel has been teasing the event for months with a "Save the Date" poster that came out in March (see "Who's Getting Hitched in 'Astonishing X-Men' #51") and warned retailers in advance that the company "had secured mainstream coverage both on-air and in print for something that has never been seen in the pages of a Marvel" for an event in the pages Astonishing X-Men #51 (see "The Mighty Marvel Mainstream Press Hype Machine"), which pretty much convinced most observers that Marvel was going to follow Archie Comics lead and hold the first gay wedding ever in the pages of a Marvel comic.

 

It is pretty clear that the folks at DC had deduced what was going to happen in Astonishing X-Men #51 and what Marvel was going to announce on The View, since over the weekend DC Comics co-publisher Dan DiDio attempted to steal some of Marvel’s thunder with an announcement that "an iconic DC character" would come out of the closet in June (see "DC Character to Come Out").  This sort of one-upmanship is all too representative of the frosty relationship between the country’s two leading comic publishers.

 

The proposal, which has Northstar down on his knees in the traditional pose, will be depicted in the pages of Astonishing X-Men #50 that is due out tomorrow (Wednesday, May 23rd) with the wedding to follow in the traditional month of June.  The ladies of The View and the audience appeared pleased with the announcement, and panelist Joy Behar, who may not have been aware of Kevin Keller’s nuptials in the pages of Archie comics, called Marvel "cutting edge."

 

Northstar, who is the focal point of the cover of Astonishing #50,  was created by Chris Claremont and John Byrne and debuted in 1979 as a member of Alpha Flight.  In Alpha Flight #120 in 1992 Northstar became one of the first openly gay superheroes.  Northstar later joined the X-Men and became a regular member of the cast of Astonishing X-Men.  His relationship with Kyle began in 2009 and moved to a new level when the two began living together a few months ago.