Bisexual Superman comic artists ‘given police protection’ after hateful backlash and death threats
Jon Kent, aka Superman, is bisexual. (DC Comics)
The creators of Superman: Son of Kal-El, in which the new Superman comes out as bisexual, have reportedly been given police protection after receiving death threats.
Last month, DC Comics revealed that Jon Kent, the Superman of Earth and son of Clark Kent and Lois Lane, is bisexual. The younger Kent is a different kind of Superman to his father – he combats climate change, protests against the deportation of refugees and is in a relationship with a man.
The announcement was largely met with celebration from fans, and DC Comics received an “unprecedented” number of orders for the issue, but there was, of course, some anti-LGBT+ backlash.
According to TMZ, police officers were dispatched to the homes of artists that worked on the comic to protect them after they received death threats over Kent’s sexuality.
Anonymous sources told TMZ that the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) was approached by DC Comics about concerns for staff safety, and asked to patrol at the studio as well as artists’ homes.
The same sources told the publication that none of the threats were acted on, and that “the situation has since settled down”.
PinkNews has contacted DC Comics and the LAPD for comment.
The creators of the original 1978 Superman film also received death threats
Last year Richard Donner, director of the first Superman film in 1978, revealed that he too had received death threats over a storyline.
He told The Telegraph that he had received threats because of the religious themes in the film.
“There were the death threats after Superman came out, when some took umbrage at the vague religious allegory, of Superman’s father Jor-El (Marlon Brando) sending his only son to Earth,” he said.
“They threatened my life… One woman wrote a letter saying how dare I compare Brando to God and Christopher Reeve to Jesus. She said my blood would run in the streets.
“I guess you make a good movie, somebody takes it as a reality.”
