Marvel turns transgender 12-year-old into comic book superhero, and we love it 3,000
Rebekah Bruesehoff was turned into a comic book (Photo: Marvel Comics/Disney Plus)
Marvel has turned a 12-year-old LGBT+ activist into its latest comic book superhero.
The unique gesture came about after Rebekah Bruesehoff featured in Marvel’s Hero Project, a Disney+ show dedicated to celebrating real-life heroes.
The show focused on how Rebekah helped campaign for LGBT-inclusive education in New Jersey, after the Trump administration rolled back protections for trans students.
As part of the show, Marvel debuted the comic ‘Mighty Rebekah’, which is available for free online.
Marvel comic sees superhero Mighty Rebekah defend friends from homophobia.
The comic has an empowering pro-LGBT+ message, featuring the Mighty Rebekah helping her friends after angry bigots threw a brick through their window with the message “you don’t belong here”.
The Mighty Rebekah explains: “They can’t take that away from me hate us for who they are, because they don’t really know who we are.
“They just think we’re different… and that scares them. If people took the time to actually get to know us, they’d see we’re just like any other kids.
“Same dreams. Same hopes. Same fears. And they’d see we all want the same thing: to be accepted.
“No matter how many stones they decide to throw our way, we can’t just let it break us. This is who we were born to be. No one can change that.”
Rebekah Bruesehoff and her mum have campaigned for inclusive education (Disney Plus)
Rebekah: It’s really important to represent transgender kids.
Rebekah was overjoyed with the comic, telling Marvel her favourite part was that it “showed that LGBTQ kids are the same as other kids”.
Speaking to Advocate, she said: “I think that it’s really important to have a transgender kid in one of these companies because representation is really helpful for kids who are going through their transition to know that they are not alone and that there are people fighting for them.
“I feel that it’s really important for all kids to learn about LGBTQ people and how they can impact our world and our history. Because they can see that transgender and all LGBTQ people are … like them and they can change the world.”
As part of the show Marvel’s Hero Project also donated $10,000 to The Trevor Project, “in recognition of their work to support LGBTQ youth in crisis.”
Although Marvel’s big-screen blockbusters have been devoid of major LGBT+ representation, one of its TV shows recently featured its first on-screen same-sex wedding.
