Superheroes in Love: When Rictor Met Shatterstar

In his landmark 137-issue run writing The Incredible Hulk, he introduced The Pantheon, including gay member Hector. In 1999, he won a GLAAD media award for his work on Supergirl, where the outspoken lesbian comedian Andy Jones turned out to be sharing a body with Comet, the mysterious guy who inspired a crush in Supergirl.

In the pages of Captain Marvel, he wrote a lesbian relationship for the sometimes-heroine/sometimes-villainess Moondragon.

What’s notable about David’s inclusiveness is that his queer characters are usually superheroes themselves and, thus, part of the major storylines. Their relationships may get overshadowed by plots involving Earth-born angels or troublesome doubles from alternative universes or timelines, but they also don’t disappear until the heroes have down time either.

Peter David created queer characters Hector, Andy Jones & Moondragon

Now, David is getting attention from gay comic fans for confirming the relationship between mutants Rictor and Shatterstar in the pages of X-Factor. There had been hints that the two were romantically involved before, but David confirmed the relationship in X-Factor #45 when the two shared a kiss.

X-Factor is relaunching this month with #200, which sees the team moving to New York City and Shatterstar becoming a full member. We talked with David about where Rictor and Shatterstar may be heading, what they add to the dynamic of X-Factor, as well as the challenges Marvel’s first major gay character, Northstar, faced after coming out.

AfterElton:  Could you describe X-Factor for readers who might not be familiar with the title?

Peter David: X-Factor is one of Marvel Comics’ mutant books, of the same category as X-Men. X-Factor goes in a different direction than most of the other mutant books [and] is essentially a noir-esque title about a group of mutants who have come together to form a detective company.

They deal with some of the more bizarre and unusual events that occur in the Marvel Universe. With X-Factor, you don’t have to be an evil mutant to get their attention; all you have to have is an unusual problem and a checkbook. They also accept plastic – they take Visa, Master Card and American Express.

AE: And what about Shatterstar and Rictor?

PD: Rictor is one of the founding members of the group. He is actually a mutant who actually lost his mutant abilities during a companywide crossover called “House of M” with about 90% of the rest of the Marvel Universe. He did have earthquake powers, seismic abilities, hence the nickname of Rictor.

Shatterstar is an inter-dimensional warrior created – believe it or not – in the future of an alternate dimension called Mojoworld. He was originally designed to be an asexual or, at least, not interested in relationships, human sexuality or anything. He was more or less just a killing machine.

In his prolonged exposure to humanity, as frequently happens in these kinds of stories, that has changed. During his time on another team called X-Force … he and Rictor had a longstanding relationship with a subtext to it that a lot of fans picked up on, but wasn’t made explicit until recently.

Rictor (left) and Shatterstar's relationship has always had a lot of subtext