Posted in: Comics | Tagged: empyre, Hulkling, kiss, LGBTQ, wiccan

Teddy And Billy in Lords Of Empyre: Hulkling – Betrayed With A Kiss

The Empyre series has seen Teddy Altman, Hulking leading a Skrull and Kree aligned assault on the Earth. But, as Bleeding Cool saw in the tea leaves, it was against the Cotati on the Moon, and they are now seen as the real threat to all animal life in the galaxy. But how did Hulking take that role – and what did it cost him? Created as a half-Kree/half-Skrull hiding on Earth as a human in Young Avengers, he also had a relationship with Billy Kaplan, Wiccan, son of the Scarlet Witch and the Vision. Both created by Allan Heinberg and Jim Cheung, and yes the 'Bill and Ted' is intentional.

This has, over the years, become the most prominent gay relationship in mainstream comic books, certainly as Apollo and Midnighter were dropped and Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn were straightwashed. Titles leading up to Empyre highlighted their relationship, but Lords Of Empyre: Hulkling #1 by Chip Zdarsky, Anthony Oliveira and Manuel Garcia out this week may have made it the most explicit, but also put it under the most pressure.

Because it seems that an emperor cannot have such a personal relationship with a human being, gay, straight or otherwise. To be fair, for shape-shifting Skrulls, that distinction is already a hard one for them to see. But aready seen as a soft emperor, the presence of Wiccan is not appreciated.

Leaving Hulkling to say the kind of words that cut deep, even if Wiccan says that it's okay.

Of course, these are just words, no matter how much they hurt. In practice…

… love conquers all. And love can wait…

LORDS OF EMPYRE EMPEROR HULKLING #1
MARVEL COMICS
FEB200784
(W) Chip Zdarsky, Anthony Oliveira (A) Manuel Garcia (CA) Patrick Gleason
DESTINY FULFILLED!
The child of the Kree hero Mar-Vell and Skrull Princess Anelle, Dorrek VIII – known on Earth as "Teddy" – has spent years evading the clutches of both bloodthirsty empires. But now fate has caught up to him. The Kree and Skrull worlds are aligned – and only a man born of both can lead them. But what has led Hulkling to abandon Earth and the Avengers he's fought beside? And what will become of his fiancé, the hero Wiccan? Star writers Chip Zdarsky and Anthony Oliveira team up with artist Manual Garcia for a can't-miss one-shot! Rated T+In Shops: Jul 22, 2020 SRP: $4.99

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