The Gay Captain America Joke

It’s become the new sport on Twitter — gay campaigns for movie characters. Progressive superhero fans recently started petitioning Marvel to change Captain America’s sexual orientation in an upcoming film.

Using the hashtag #GiveCaptainAmericaABoyfriend, thousands of people asked the company behind the superhero to re-fashion him as a gay man in an upcoming installment.

Disney has been under fire for years to finally feature a gay character in one of their family-friend animated musicals, so this plea surprised no one.

Some Twitter users were quick to offer a candidate who could capture Captain America’s heart: Bucky Barnes, aka the Winter Soldier, played by actor Sebastian Stan in the Marvel cinematic universe.

If one were to guess a reason why Bucky was the go-to guy — outside of actor Stan’s luxurious mane — it would be due to the immense loyalty they’ve displayed in the trilogy, from Cap losing his best friend in WWII, to rediscovering him alive and well (and brainwashed) in “The Winter Soldier,” to the bristling bromance on display in “Civil War,” where Cap is basically willing to fight all his other friends to protect Bucky.

But therein lies the rub — pun intended. This Twitter movement began as the stuff of bromance, intended to amuse. In this day and age of astonishing political correctness running amok, however, it took about three minutes to be hijacked by the P.C. Police — and Marvel quickly had a movement on its hands.

Well, Disney did, anyway.

Disney took ownership of Marvel some years ago. And Disney is where the always-outraged are looking for some diversity, as opposed to Marvel, where the scribes have consistently endeavored to appeal to every demographic under the sun.

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Disney had its work cut out for it earlier in May, when a Twitter campaign sought to get Elsa, from “Frozen” fame, a girlfriend. Yep, Disney fans used Twitter to petition the studio to make Frozen’s (single) protagonist a lesbian, using the hashtag #GiveElsaAGirlfriend.

Disney has been under fire for years to finally feature a gay character in one of their family-friend animated musicals, so this plea surprised no one. Presumably running with that hashtag as Mad Lib, it morphed into #GiveCaptainAmericaABoyfriend and came equipped with very funny pics.

One had two dudes dressed as Cap and the Winter Soldier (aka Bucky) and in full make-out mode. Another had a still from “Civil War” capturing Bucky flipping his hair, with the words “He’s right here” beneath it. Still another read — all caps, no less — “Make Captain America Gay Again.”

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Total joshing.

The movement was eventually acknowledged by GLAAD towards the end of the week. In short, they favorited the tweet.

Surely, some began to expect and even vocalize, this would be enough to get a response on the subject from Marvel, right? Not a peep. 

Marvel has bigger things to worry about — such as bracing themselves for a real storyline that they had laying in wait: that Cap has been working for the enemy, Hydra, all these years.

Said enemy is described at Marvel.com as an “authoritarian terrorist-criminal-paramilitary organization bent on world domination.” Captain America, whose first cover literally depicted him punching Hitler in the face, is now a life-long secret Nazi.

In issue #1 of a new series, “Captain America: Steve Rogers,” the writer seems to be hell-bent on going there.

“Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” star Clark Gregg (a key player in both the Marvel TV and cinematic universe) has since tweeted cautious enthusiasm for the writer behind this “Cap is with Hydra” storyline to “tell his story,” adding, “I will judge that tale when it is done being told.”

Nazis, mind you, actually imprisoned homosexuals in concentration camps — somewhat deflating the prospect of Marvel giving the now-fascist Captain America a boyfriend, even one as apparently dreamy as Bucky Barnes.