Marvel Comics has officially debuted this year’s Pride Month variant covers that will be released in June after the annual Marvel’s Voices: Pride one-shot. All eight variant covers were drawn by Betsy Cola and Davi Go and celebrate many of the publisher’s iconic LGBTQIA+ characters. The covers also team them up with other famous Marvel superheroes to put a spotlight on allyship.

This year’s version of the Marvel’s Voices: Pride one-shot has been retitled to X-Men: The Wedding Special #1, celebrating the marriage of Mystique and Destiny, and the Pride Month festivities continue with the Allies variants. Marvel has released a first look at Cola’s covers, which include LGBTQIA+ characters such as Lightning, Hulkling, America Chavez, Black Cat, and Rūna’s Valkyrie.

Though most are just making cover appearances, aside from Black Cat, their positioning gives hope that these characters will be further fleshed out. While the superhero allies on the covers are a nice inclusion, it would be even better to see the LGBTQIA+ characters highlighted more beyond Pride Month.

New Pride Variant Covers Highlight Both LGBTQIA+ Characters and Allies

Marvel’s Pride Allies variants put a focus on not only LGBTQIA+ characters, but the superheroes around them who practice allyship. Building off of the heroes featured on Betsy Cola’s covers, the variants by Davi Go feature characters like Loki, Angela, Northstar, Hercules, and Rachel Summers alongside various allies. With just 10 canon LGBTQIA+ characters across the eight Pride Month variant covers, there are still plenty of other heroes who have not been included, which further emphasizes the breadth of Marvel’s catalog of characters that identify as part of the community.

By including some of its most famous heroes as allies alongside the select LGBTQIA+ characters, Marvel makes it clear that allyship is simply integral to the identity of its superheroes. While not performatively portraying said allyship as being inherently heroic, the iconic heroes standing together in solidarity still makes a strong point about the importance of communal support. Marvel has already made some great strides in terms of LGBTQIA+ representation, but there’s always room to grow and expand the celebration in its main titles and beyond.

The Future of LGBTQIA+ Representation at Marvel

Along with the announcement of this variant cover series, Marvel also dropped hints at the futures for some characters. While characters like Loki, Hulkling, Black Cat, and Rachel Summers are currently starring in titles, some LGBTQIA+ characters will be making grand returns to Marvel Comics. Angela will be making a return to Thor comics in Immortal Thor #11 by Al Ewing, Valentina Pinti, and Matthew Wilson. Hercules rejoins the Avengers during Blood Hunt, and Lightning is set to return to a yet-to-be-revealed Avengers team. Since they were featured on covers, more news about America Chavez, Valkyrie, and Northstar is potentially still to come.

With the wedding of Mystique and Destiny kicking off Pride Month, these variant covers just further the Pride festivities for Marvel’s June 2024 releases. Cola and Go’s variant art brings these characters to life and teams them up with many of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. Pairing some of Marvel’s most famous heroes with some of its iconic LGBTQIA+ characters is a fun variant theme and something that would be great to see ingrained more throughout Marvel Comics storytelling beyond Pride Month.

Source: Marvel