For many of the people who crowded theatres for the opening weekend of Poseidon, the most pressing question about the film was “Will Kurt Russell wear waterproof eyeliner this time?”

But for those gay viewers who had heard that one of the passengers on the ill-fated cruise was going to be a gay man, other questions arose. Would the gay character be a stereotype? Would he prove to be one of the heroic survivors, or just another secondary minority character marked for a watery grave?

While gay characters have been popping up in all sorts of mainstream and independent films, it's rare that they figure heavily in summer action films. Those mega-million dollar popcorn flicks are typically helmed by uber-straight (or at the very least "straight acting") men who blow up a lot of stuff, get the bad guy, and then get the girl. Mission: Impossible III is a good current example, and in many ways Poseidon isn't much different.

In Poseidon, roguish Josh Lucas and salty Kurt Russell vie for Most Gallant as they lead a small group of passengers to safety on the sinking luxury liner. Lucas plays Dylan Johns, a former Navy boy with ample knowledge of ship mechanics, and Russell stars as Robert Ramsey, a firefighter lauded for his heroics and who just happens to be the former mayor of New York City.

The other passengers happily defer to the two heroes and their brazen swashbuckling techniques. Ramsey's teen daughter Jennifer (Emmy Rossum) and the two other female passengers encourage the heroes, bandage cuts, and supply the occasional bout of hysteria that the genre demands. Jennifer's alpha-in-training fiancé Christian (Mike Vogel) provides valuable back-up to the two heroes, and there's even a young boy who wanders away from time to time only to be rescued by one of the men in charge.

It's all pretty by the book, unless you count the unexpected wild card of gay architect Richard Nelson (played with surprising subtlety by Richard Dreyfuss).

One could ostensibly dismiss Nelson as a stereotypically tragic gay figure. He's traveling alone, leaving needy voicemails for the lover who has left him for someone else. He's dressed a bit fussily, sporting a bow tie and large diamond stud in his ear, and he orders the most expensive bottle of wine for his table while he sucks down a martini and bemoans the woeful state of his love life. The tipsy Nelson even considers suicide, preparing to throw himself overboard until he sees the enormous “rogue wave” looming large over the ship. That's when Nelson's “I Will Survive” instinct kicks in and he instead runs back into the ballroom to (temporary) safety.

Not only does Nelson survive the initial capsizing of the ship, but his knowledge of architecture inspires the small group of passengers to find their own path to safety. With Nelson along for the journey, the film finally strays from convention. In Poseidon, the character of Nelson provides something far more important than heroic pyrotechnics. He represents the sort of bravery by necessity that any non-action hero type of person would display in a true disaster. Of course he's terrified as rooms flood with water and corpses float past him, but he's not clutching his pearls and bursting into flames.

Nelson is just as eager to help pry a door open as he is to comfort a claustrophobic passenger who doesn't want to escape through an airshaft. Despite his terror, Nelson even has the pluck to flirt with a waiter who briefly joins the group as they try to escape.

Nelson is a good guy with nothing to prove, and he just happens to be gay. While this sounds like nothing special, it's a feat that few action films—or any other mainstream film for that matter—have accomplished with any regularity.

As pointed out by AfterElton.com editor Michael Jensen in a recent article about the film United 93, openly gay passenger Mark Bingham wasn't explicitly portrayed as gay in the film about the heroic efforts of regular people to stop a terrorist hijacking of their plane. And while actor Ian McKellen is an out and outspoken gay actor starring in one of the summer's biggest action franchises (X-Men: The Last Stand) and the gay subtext of the X-Men films is undeniable, there are no explicitly gay heroes among the mighty mutants.

So in terms of summer action blockbusters this year, Poseidon may be as gay as it gets. And it doesn't exactly represent a turning point. The character of Nelson is the only one of the small group who is not romantically partnered or accompanied by family, and it's a drag to see that, once again, the gay stands alone while heterosexual love and the straight nuclear family thrive.

Poseidon is not a great film, and despite it's gay character it won't generate any juicy Oscar controversy ala Brokeback Mountain. But in a genre that has historically shown gay folks to be victims or villains, the matter-of-fact characterization of good gay Nelson in Poseidon is a noteworthy improvement