Anyone else a fan of X-Men? I'm personally not a comic book reader but have watched and enjoyed most of the films. Even if I think individually each film has it's flaws, one major theme that is concurrent throughout the movies is the idea that the mutants are outcasts from society, seen as abnormal, with many groups of humans trying to find a way to either get rid of them altogether or alternatively find some kind of treatment that removes their abilities and appearances and turns them human or "normal". I see this as a great allegory to the struggles that LGBT people face in real life, and how a community develops through shared experience and hardship. It's why I think I have more of a soft spot in my heart for the X-Men movies than I do for other super hero films.
I really liked the First Class trilogy (especially the interplay between Charles and Eric), but I haven't read any of the comics and the only other X Men movie I've seen is the first one (I thought it was OK, but not as good as the First Class trilogy).
I'm fairly sure Ice Man is gay in the comics if that hasn't been retconned yet so I really hope they choose to use that story line at some point although if any character is queer I doubt they'll make it one of the main characters unfortunately. I am pretty shocked they haven't had any gay characters in the main franchise yer since it's been going for 17 years although Deadpool is pansexual.
Colossus was gay in one of the titles and I think mystique may have been involved with another woman in another title I read.
I can definitely see the resemblance between X-men (technically mutants) and LGBT people in terms of similar struggles, et cetera. While it may not have been a deliberate allegory, fiction is very much interpretable by the individual and so could inspire and give hope to LGBT or other ostracized people groups.
Stan Lee says he created the X men to be an "anti-bigotry story" and Bryan Singer is gay himself, so he played up the LGBT subtext in the movies.
