Art by Phil Noto
- Name: Jean-Paul Beaubier
- Code Names: Northstar
- First Appearance: Uncanny X-Men #12 (April 1979)
- Powers: Superspeed, Weird Twin Powers
- Teams Affiliation: Alpha Flight, X-Men
Since their inception the X-Men have constantly been an allegory for the disenfranchised. From their red scare origins in the 60’s, to the civil rights allusions of the 70’s and 80’s, Marvels mutants have been used to examine those that society has rejected. In recent years many parallels have been drawn between mutants coming to terms with their abilities and queer individuals coming out. Bryan Singer’s film franchise has cemented this comparison in the public mind with a very explicit messages. With that history it shouldn’t surprise anyone that the first comic book superhero to both come out as gay and marry his partner came from the X family. Though he has had a rocky road, Northstar has consistently been the beacon for queer representation in comics.
Northstar was created by John Byrne and Chris Claremont as a member of Alpha Flight, the Canadian equivalent to the Avengers. Byrne, a Canadian himself, wanted better representation for his country in comic books and developed the team as a way to combat this. They attacked Wolverine, attempting to bring him back to his former employer, Department H. Marvel eventually gave the team an ongoing, but Byrne was in a bit of trouble. Beyond their names and powers, Byrne hadn’t given the team much of a personality and had to quickly develop the team. For the Québécois speedster Byrne had some pretty radical ideas, Jean-Paul was going to be a ski champion and, more importantly, gay. Thanks to the Comics Code Authority and the word of Jim Shooter, Byrne was unable to make this explicit and had to hid the homosexuality. The first gay character in comics was forced to stay in the closet for over a decade.
Art by John Byrne, Terry Austin, and Glynis Wein
Northstar joined Alpha Flight when their leader Guardian reunited Jean-Paul with his long lost twin sister Jeanne-Marie, the heroine known as Aurora. He was very protective of his sister and was the hot head of the team. He was dealt a blow when he was outed as a superhero after saving a woman who jumped off a cliff. The skiers on the mountain were able to recognize speedster Northstar as the champion Jean-Paul and his record was forever tainted. A sickness began swelling inside Northstar and he began questioning his own mortality. After an encounter with Loki it was revealed that Northstar and Aurora were both half Light Elf and that their biology was incompatible with the atmosphere of Midgar. To save his life, Northstar went to Alfheim and ended his term with Alpha Flight. Bill Mantlo wanted the story to go a different way and have the sickness revealed as AIDS, near the height of the crisis. Shooter’s word was still law and Mantlo was forced to turn one problematic story, the only heroic gay character in the Marvel universe succumbing to AIDS, into one where the only heroic gay character in the Marvel universe was actually a half step away from being a literal fairy.
Art by June Brigman, Whilce Portacio, and Bob Sharen
Alpha Flight eventually made their way back to Asgard to found their friend. Northstar revealed that it was all a lie and that he wasn’t an elf, it was just another lie from the god of them. While working with Alpha Flight he found an infant that had been abandoned in a Toronto trash can and rushed the child to the emergency room. When he found that the child had been diagnosed with AIDS he immediately adopted it and Alpha Flight made AIDS education a priority. The child was not strong enough to survive with the disease was died a few weeks later. The tragedy spurred Northstar to stop hiding who he really was, he was afforded a position of privilege and was a media icon in Canada, he could make a difference. He called a press conference and finally came out.
Art by Mark Pacella, Dan Panosian, and Bob Sharen
Jean-Paul eventually retired and wrote a book about his experience called Born Normal. It was on the promotion tour that Jean Grey recruited him to be a temporary member of the X-Men. His initial tenure was short lived, though and he returned to Canada. In the interim, Charles Xavier outed himself, and his school, as mutants. They were overwhelmed with new students and Xavier attempted to recruit Northstar to teach at the Institute. Jean-Paul initially refused but after a young mutant died despite Northstar’s efforts, he took up Xavier’s offer and joined the school. He developed an attraction for Iceman while he stayed at the institute, convinced that Bobby was gay. He also began to teach a group of students, some of who resented his hard nosed approach to education but he formed a strong bond with the young Anole.
Art by Sean Phillips & Hi-Fi Design
When Wolverine was brain washed by The Hand and attacked the Institute, Jean-Paul fell as a causalty. This death was short lived as The Hand quickly resurrected him to act as their lieutenant as they made an attempt to attack the world. Wolverine was eventually able to shake off the brain washing and sent the brainwashed Northstar into SHIELD custody. The Children of the Vault attacked the facility where Northstar was being held and used him and his sister as weapons, only stopped by the intervention of the X-Men. Still the X-Men worked to remove the brainwashing from their allies with SHIELD and the X-Men telepaths. This process was interrupted by an attack from Exodus and his new Acolytes and the twins were able to use their powers to heal their shattered minds.
Art by John Romita Jr., Klaus Janson, and Paul Mounts
After taking some time to come to terms with his recent affairs, Northstar rejoined the X-Men in San Francisco, against the will of his supportive boyfriend Kyle Jinadu. In California he became close with Dazzler and Pixie, enjoying running between shows with them. When many members of Alpha Flight were resurrected in the Chaos War, Northstar briefly returned to Canada. After they disbanded, Jean-Paul moved in with Kyle in New York City. He got caught up in an adventure with the X-Men that almost lead to Kyle’s death and this spurred Jean-Paul into action. The next day he took Kyle to Central Park and got down on one knee. Kyle said no. Their relationship had been strained recently and Kyle thought that Jean-Paul was only looking to put a Band-Aid on their problems instead of fixing them. Enemies of the X-Men used Kyle as bait and Northstar raced to rescue him. As they recovered, Jean-Paul bared his heart to Kyle and Kyle finally accepted the proposal. The two were married in Central Park a week later, surrounded by friends and family.
Art by Mike Perkins
Must Read
I’m going to preface this entire section with saying that the original run of Alpha Flight is 130 issues long and not collected on Marvel Unlimited. I have not read it and there may be some excellent Northstar stories in that that I am overlooking. Still I think it might be hard to beat Lui’s run on Astonishing X-Men for a Northstar tale. Lui was able to add some depth to a character who had traditionally just been cocky and angry. She crafted a very believable relationship between Jean-Paul and Kyle and made sure to treat their union with respect. It’s one of the few times Northstar has seemed like someone I would want to spend any sort of time with and it really, really, works. This run is available on Marvel Unlimited and in several trades.
Art by Dustin Weaver and Rachelle Rosenberg
Ranking
Northstar is a character I have always struggled with because he is largely written as unlikable. To me that was a problem when he was one of very few gay characters in the X-Men family, I always felt bad for disliking him. That’s not to say he isn’t a well written character, just that he isn’t someone I get excited about when he is on a roster. He ranks higher than Marrow, another largely unlikable character, partly because of his legacy and partly because he can be written very well. I don’t think he goes above Frenzy who is similarly brash and dismissive of others. I think Omega Sentinel has to rank above him just for her fantastic design, but I think he can jump above Darwin because at least writers know what they want to do with Northstar. Because of that he speeds in as the new number 23 in the Xavier Files.
Northstar was requested by northstarfan on tumblr and special Patreon supporter Suzene. Thank you for your support Suzene. If YOU have a character you want me to do, leave a comment and I’ll get it added to the list. If you want to cut to the front of the line, like Suzene did, we just started a Patreon if you want to support it and get a line cutting reward. Our first goal is only $15 and it gets rid of those ads and makes the hosting for Xavier Files entirely reader supported.
Last week we launched the official Xavier Files webcomic and you can view them here.
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Zachary Jenkins co-hosts the podcast Battle of the Atom and is the former editor-in-chief of ComicsXF. Shocking everyone, he has a full and vibrant life outside all this.
