Genre Love Stories: Apollo and Midnighter

Never let it be said that we here at Geekademia are closed-minded about love. Today I’m going to talk about my favorite gay couple in comics, Apollo and Midnighter, formerly of Wildstorm’s Authority and presently of the New 52’s Stormwatch, but I’m mostly going to focus on their Authority days.

Apollo is a hero in the vein of Superman, with powers of flight, strength, invulnerability, and laser vision, as well as being powered by the sun. He’s more ruthless than his DC counterpart, but on the whole, he’s pretty positive and noble. Midnighter is the ultimate fighting man. He’s capable of accounting for every move an opponent might make in under a second and being able to counter them all. He’s dour and antisocial, and mainly only happy when he gets to smash people’s faces in. They’re both seriously deadly in combat and make for a very effective team.

There are lots of things I like about these two as a couple. For one thing, their sexuality isn’t really a big deal. First and foremost, they’re badass heroes. They don’t go out of their way to be stereotypical or constantly make their sexuality their defining characteristic. It’s part of who they are, as with everyone, but not overwhelmingly so. For another, I like that amongst the Authority, who are known in their universe for being mostly hard-partying rock stars, Apollo and Midnighter are a stable, monogamous couple. They’re happily married, and they even have an adopted daughter. But most of all, what I like about these two is just how sincere they are.

Everything  we see about these two in their private, affectionate moments shows us that they care about each other, and they’re really right for one another. The fact that Apollo can see past the Midnighter’s anger to the good man inside, and the fact that Midnighter actually smiles when he’s around Apollo just warms your heart, no matter where you fall on the Kinsey Scale.

I try not to overload these articles with pictures, but this little exchange, for me, sums them up perfectly: