New York’s Gay City News uses the new Batwoman as a springboard for an over overview of the history of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender characters in comics. It’s a relatively brief look, but the newspaper goes old school. Think Extrano, or even Northstar, was the first gay character in a superhero book? Think again:
That title belongs to Ultra-Humanite, widely regarded to be the first supervillian, gay or otherwise. Created in 1939, he was a mad scientist who had the ability to transfer his consciousness into any body. He was intended to be the antithesis of Superman, his first opponent; while Superman was agile and strong, Ultra-Humanite was crippled, but had an astounding intellect. By today’s standards, he seems like standard bad-guy fare—a maniacal criminal mastermind facing a superior superhero.
But in his third appearance, Humanite’s entry in the record books became more interesting. After his original body was destroyed by Supes, Humanite was forced to transplant his mind into the nearest human, fictitious actress Delores Winters. This made him the first transgendered character to appear in print, certainly racy by 1940s standards.
Racy, indeed. Of course, now Ultra-Humanite is a big albino gorilla.
Related: Gay League’s Ultra-Humanite entry
