Northstar (character)

Northstar (Jean-Paul Beaubier) is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Chris Claremont and John Byrne, the character first appeared in The Uncanny X-Men #120 (April 1979) as a member of the Canadian superhero team Alpha Flight.

Northstar is a member of a fictional subspecies of humanity known as mutants, who are born with superhuman abilities. The character possesses the ability to travel at superhuman speeds, fly, and project photonic energy blasts. His twin sister, Aurora, possesses similar abilities. Although the character was initially depicted as a member of Alpha Flight, he has appeared regularly as a member of the X-Men since joining the team of mutants in The Uncanny X-Men #414 (December 2002).

The character is one of the first openly gay superheroes in American comic books, and the first openly gay character to come out in a book published by Marvel Comics. He married his husband, Kyle Jinadu, in Astonishing X-Men #51 (June 2012), which was the first depiction of a same-sex wedding in mainstream comics.

Northstar debuted in The Uncanny X-Men #120 (April 1979) as part of the Canadian government sponsored team Alpha Flight, who sought to take Wolverine of the X-Men into custody. In 1983, Alpha Flight went on to star in its own comic, with Northstar as a charter member. In addition to the Alpha Flight comic and associated annuals, Northstar and other members of the team made numerous guest appearances in other titles, particularly Uncanny X-Men and Wolverine. Northstar was also featured in miniseries including two X-Men and Alpha Flight series and Secret Wars II.

Creator John Byrne was reluctant to produce an initial run of the 1983 Alpha Flight comic series for lack of developed and compelling characters. They had no back-stories and were created as nothing more than a team to face the X-Men. So in order to make the team less two-dimensional and more developed, Northstar's sexual orientation was subtly introduced into the start of the new Alpha Flight series. Although Byrne had intended the character to be gay, he was restricted to implied hints of this fact, due to Marvel editor-in-chief Jim Shooter's policy against openly homosexual characters, and by the Comics Code Authority. For example, in Alpha Flight #18, when Northstar's residence is called by Heather Hudson, a half-naked man in swim trunks who had been swimming with Northstar answers the phone, while in Alpha Flight #41, Northstar's sister Aurora says to her brother, "Since when do you object to having attractively-dressed men about, my brother?" Northstar's apparent lack of interest in women was implied to be due to his obsessive drive to win as a ski champion, and writer Bill Mantlo's later attempt to reveal that Northstar had AIDS was squelched. In Alpha Flight #106 (1992), writer Scott Lobdell was finally given permission to have Northstar state, "I am gay."

As the first major, openly gay character created by Marvel Comics, Northstar generated significant publicity in the mainstream press, and Alpha Flight #106 sold out in a week, although the series was not a very popular title. It is the only comic book issue to have been inducted into the Gaylactic Hall of Fame. The event was also controversial, and almost no mention was made of his sexual orientation for the remainder of the first Alpha Flight series, which ended with issue #130 in 1994. One exception was a subplot in which his sister Aurora—experiencing a split personality—accepted his homosexuality in one personality, while rejecting it in the other. After the cancellation of Alpha Flight, Northstar appeared in his own miniseries, which uses his mutancy as allegory and sexuality as subtext. Interactions between Northstar and other gay characters have been depicted, such as in a Marvel Swimsuit Special, in which he is shown socializing with the gay Pantheon member Hector.

After the 1994 cancellation of Alpha Flight, Northstar starred in an eponymous four issue limited series. In 1997, a second on-going series of Alpha Flight was initiated. Northstar was not a member of this group, but appeared in later issues searching for his missing sister Aurora. He featured in eight issues before the series cancellation with issue #20.

In 2005, Marvel killed Northstar in three separate continuities within the space of one calendar month. Between February 16 and March 9, 2005, versions of Northstar were killed in the Earth-616-based Wolverine #25, and in X-Men: Age of Apocalypse and X-Men: The End, which were set in alternate timelines. Northstar did not stay dead long in Marvel's primary continuity, as he is resurrected in Wolverine #26.