The Week in Gay Geek: Ultimate X-Fates, big screen DC heroes and more!

ULTIMATE X-MEN DISCUSSION ALERT:
This week, Ultimate X-Men #97 hit the comic shop shelves, the final chapter in the story that controversial included a(nother) death of Northstar as well as similarly dire consequences for Colossus. I figure it'll be good to have a space to discuss the story. However, since I don't want to put spoilers at the top of the post, this item is only here to let you know that there's a summary of the conclusion and a few reactions at the end of the post. Please add your reactions in the comments!

SAVE US MOVIE SIGN:
This has certainly been a week full of news for DC superhero movies and there was a gay aspect to most of those stories. Most exciting is a positive script review for the Greg Berlanti-directed Green Lantern movie that certainly builds the hype:

"Let me start off with saying that within just reading the first few pages, I knew Berlanti, Guggenheim and Green had gotten the character right."

Green Lantern Hal Jordan and director Greg Berlanti

On the other hand, this part is a tiny bit worrysome

"The script, if greenlit, is a sure-fire hit for fan boys, but in scale it's big, VERY big, and we are hearing rumors that it may be too big for the director currently attached, Greg Berlanti."

I'll be disappointed if Berlanti is deemed as not having the experience for Green Lantern. After all, Bryan Singer and Christopher Nolan weren't blockbuster movie directors when they brought X-Men and Batman Begins to the multiplexes.

And then comes the more surprising rumor of gay icon Cher as a possible Catwoman for the next Batman film. What makes the rumor rather interesting for me is the comment that Cher's Catwoman would be "like a vamp in her twilight years." Which strikes me as an interesting take on the iconic villain. I'd love to see a Selina Kyle who has benefited from years of villainy.

Cher and Catwoman

On the less-gay front there's talk of the Superman film franchise getting a reboot, Batman Begins-style. In the various reports I've read, I've seen Superman Returns director Bryan Singer compared to Ang Lee (who directed the first unsuccessful Hulk film), which makes it sound unlikely he'll be participating in the next Superman movie.

Sigh, that's a lot of gays-getting-booted-from-superhero-movie rumors for one week, isn't it?

TAKEI ALERT!
Is the number of gay actors performing in video games on the increase or have I only just started to notice? Not only will we soon hear Stephen Fry's voice in Fable 2 but now comes word that George Takei will be appearing in the between-mission cinemas for Red Alert 3.

George Takei in Red Alert 3

Actually, the Red Alert 3 cast has more than a bit of a gay sensibility. In addition to Takei, the cast includes gay faves like Tim Curry (whose history as a video game voice goes back as far as cult classic Gabriel Knight), Oz bad guy JK Simmons as well as Gemma Atkinson of Hollyoaks and the very gay Hollyoaks spin-off In the City. I'd be rather excited if most RTS strategy games — including the original Command & Conquor — didn't quickly end in frustration for me.

After the break: When Fallout 3 is planning on destroying your social life, Hex' Thelma meets Elizabeth Bennett and the latest fates for Ultimate Colossus and Northstar.

BETWEEN THE ARMAGEDDON AND SUBURBIA:
The end of one long waiting game is in sight for two titles highly anticipated by gay gamers, as we now have release dates for Fallout 3 and The Sims 3.

Fallout 3

Fallout 3 comes out in a couple months, on October 28. As I've discussed plenty of times before, Fallout 2 stands out in gay gamers' memories for the same-sex romance that the main character could play out. I'm still waiting to see if the third edition (which comes from a different studio than the previous games) will be similarly gay-inclusive. From what I've been able to tell, Oblivion (which Fallout 3 is built upon) didn't have the potential to romance an NPC much like Baldur's Gate 2 (the foundation for Fallout 2), so I've been watching for any clues to that kind of feature but Bethesda has been slowly rationing out the details.

Hey, is that a sim Satler and Waldorf in the background?

Meanwhile, the next version of The Sims will arrive in February 2009 and it'll be very interesting to see how this game progresses. The Sims has always had a pretty significant gay fanbase, party due to its being so inclusive to same-sex relationships and its modding community being very welcoming to gay fans. As I noted before, each game has evolved in how it treated same-sex couples and I'm eager to see if EA takes that one last step and finally starts calling it a marriage when its same-sex couples get hitched.

THEY COULD NOT HAVE MADE THAT PROGRAMME IN ANY WAY THAT WOULD HAVE FAILED TO HAVE TEMPTED ME:
Could this be the next show to mix sci-fi and a gay sensibility? Lost in Austen is an upcoming British dramedy where Jemima Rooper plays a woman who suddenly finds herself in Jane Austen's world of Bennetts and Darcys. Let's see, you've got time travel, period costumes, an independent-minded woman in an era when independence wasn't appreciated and an actress who earned her gay geek fans for her gay role in Hex.

Jemima Rooper as a time-traveling Jane Austen fangirl in Lost in Austen

I've got my fingers crossed this one will make it overseas, because it sounds promising on paper. (Then again I said the same thing about that Good Evening Desdemona play I saw a few weeks ago.) What do you think, am I alone in thinking this could be full of goodness for the gay nerds?

PHOENIX EX MACHINA:
As I mentioned at the top of this post, Ultimate X-Men #97 came out this week and, well ... don't go any further if you don't want to see any SPOILERS.

* ~ * ~ * SPOILER WARNING * ~ * ~ *

It looked like Piotr was a goner at the end of last issue, which ended on the disquieting image of Wolverine cutting Colossus' heart out. However, it turns out that he — much to his surprise — can survive having his heart cut out if he's in metal form. Piotr attacks back as soon as he realizes he's okay, tearing Wolverine's leg off. However, Jean Grey quickly puts an end to the battle by wheeling in an alive but paralyzed-from-the-waist-down Northstar, which seems to instantly calm down Colossus and his teammates. later, at the X-mansion, Jean heals Colossus — though it's uncertain if he'll ever be able to revert to flesh-and-blood again and Piotr and Jean-Paul head off to watch the sunset together.

I'm mixed on the fate of Colossus and Northstar. It's hard to miss that the couple has been rendered chaste by these events. Similarly annoying to me is that Northstar is effectively a woman in the refrigerator. His function in this story is to be kidnapped, be rescued by his man and then becomes the magic taming influence. Northstar doesn't get to be much more than Colossus' motivation.

Still, even that is a step forward. When Northstar was killed in the pages of Wolverine, I felt like we were being baited. Fresh off of putting the Scarlet Witch on the Women in Refrigerators list, I felt like Northstar's appearance in that story was more about courting further controversy (as in 'Would we dare kill off our most prominent gay character? You'll be so shocked!') than it was about Northstar. Here he may not get to be more than Colossus' motivation, but what's a frustrating cliche with opposite-sex couples is groundbreaking for two gay men. I guess to sum up my feelings, this story was a case of "three steps forward, two steps back" for me.

What do you think? Were the positives or the negatives more prominent when you read it? We've had at least one reader say that this story contributed to a feeling that Marvel was pulling out the welcome mat for gay readers, does that still feel like the case?