‘Marvel’s Voices: Pride:“Everything’s Coming Up Aces”

My kingdom for asexual representation came in an unexpected character. After years of headcanons of various characters as ace, Marvel finally delivered, in the form of Gwen Stacy, aka Gwenpool, the 4th wall dismantling, fun human. Gwen Stacy now serves as aro/ace representation.

But I wish her comic came off less like a PSA of “I’m going to be here as representation” and more about how she views herself and her experiences. We went from Gwen figuring out what asexuality and aromantic mean to her announcing herself as the official representative of asexuality for the superhero community. Representation means more than just announcements; it comes in stories, feelings, and experience that reflects our own. The visibility that Gwen presents is essential and utterly absent in comics. Unless you count robots, which we don’t. We only count dragons, and now Gwen. Her being welcomed as part of a community and at pride is a welcome addition.

It is also refreshing to see more ace content as part of pride and the LGBTQIA community because, for the older aces out there, we were not always welcome in pride/LGBTQIA spaces. So it was a bright sight to see an LGBT club at Empire State University put on this amazing event with Gwen at its forefront. I do not know if Love Unlimited has more plans for Gwen, but I do know that there is infinite story potential for Gwenpool, which won’t mean much. However, we only see Gwen in Pride Month specials and Marvel Unlimited comics, which are exclusively distributed through Marvel’s digital comics subscription service.

The panel where Gwen silences those who are about to say, what we have heard before from allosexual people who do not understand asexuality, is worthy of special mention. It keeps the tone positive without giving space to stereotypes and prejudice. Portraying that not just verbally but through Gwen’s 4th wall-breaking abilities demonstrates: 1. The potential for more 4th wall breaks outside of just speaking to the audience, of which we really need more. 2. That this rhetoric is not welcome and has no space in this comic was truly a delight.

This year’s Marvel’s Voices Pride demonstrates the importance of visibility. It shows that writers can start the ball rolling on various characters and utilize their personal experiences to tell sweet stories. And it is refreshing to see asexuality represented positively.