Karoline Dean and Xavin in Runaways almost another lesbian comic couple

Karolina Dean is one of the few out lesbian characters in comic books. We thought we’d give her a bit of a shout out since that’s the case and she’s not as well known as say Batwoman. Karolina Dean appears in the comic ‘Runaways’ which is allegedly being made into a film (at least at time of writing). We’re hoping Karolina Dean’s lesbianism won’t be overlooked should the film come to fruition.

On looking more closely at the out and proud Karolina Dean, one has to question her lesbianism at all. It seems she’s married to a character named Xavin, a shapeshifter who enters the story as a male, but transforms himself into female form because the lesbian Karolina isn’t attracted to him (obviously). It seems a bit of a cop out and is hinged on her being betrothed to him as a child to end a war between two factions.

We haven’t read the comic series, so we’re not really sure how her lesbianism pans out and whether it reeks more of a cop out storyline than genuine lesbianism. Perhaps if one of our readers is a fan of the series they could shed some light.

Comments left prior to site migration:

Caitlyn Benoit
As I understand it, Xavin’s race has no permanent binary genders, although Karolina had expressed more of an attraction to Xavin as female.

Zefbot
Sounds ok provided they leave it in the movie. We shall have to wait and see I guess.

Althanea
In the latest story arc, written by Joss Whedon, Karolina expresses her issue with Xavin remaining in male form most of the time. But it’s resolved near the end of the arc when Xavin reverts back to her female form when she’s angry and says that maintaining her false male form took effort. Then the two both call Xavin’s girl form the real her.

aluminumcandy
I tend to think she’s pretty genuine. She has feelings for another main female character. It’s a constant running tension between them and it really seems like it will escalate more and more as the story goes on. I would really really recommend reading it by the way. Good story all over. Excited to hear about the movie deal, though I’m worried for the story as well. Am I the only one that thinks “they” are just plucking random comics up now just to see if it makes money? I kinda wish they would stop.

Ortrenia
Your not the only one that thinks that, comicbooks are becoming a hot hollywood property. As for the ‘lesbian’ deal in Runaways it always kind of irked me as a lesbian, but maybe thats just me. I hate when they have to somehow give a reason for lesbianism or ‘make’ it fit. Like they couldnt have just had Xavin be female only from the offset and that on her world its normal.