Now that James Gunn and Peter Safran have officially announced the first chapter of DCU’s new cinematic universe, superheroes and villains up and down the DC roster are being newly discovered to those hearing about them for the first time. Namely, Midnighter.
While Midnighter was not mentioned by name in Gunn’s announcement, his superhero team The Authority was, likely signaling the character’s imminent arrival — and not just him. The superhero team is also home to Midnighter’s husband Apollo. The Authority movie is still in its embryonic stage of development, but while we wait for more information, let’s take a look at who Midnight is, how he came about, and how he could be the answer to the lack of LGBTQ+ representation often found in comic book adaptations (ahem, looking at you Marvel).
So, who is Midnighter?
Midnighter has been around since 1998 when he first appeared in Stormwatch (vol. 2) #4 under the DC’s now-defunct WildStorm imprint. He has joined prominent superhero teams such as Stormwatch and The Authority and has earned a reputation for being a grittier, more lethal, more powerful, and somewhat psychotic allegory for Batman, and an openly gay one at that.
Midnighter’s past is a complicated one, making his true identity a tough one to pin down. Even though he often goes by the alias Lucas Trent, we don’t actually know Midnighter’s true name, nor does he. This is largely due to the fact that when he and the other members of Stormwatch put on their costumes and spoke their codenames, their previous identities vanished into history.
So, what do we know then? Firstly, we know he has superhuman strength, speed, reflexes, and durability, as well as enhanced usage of his five senses. All of this – and more – because he was genetically and technologically bioengineered via implants. His carbon fiber muscles allow him to dismember an opponent with a single punch. His enhanced senses give him the ability of battle precognition, meaning he can predict the outcome of a situation by running through millions of scenarios in his head before even striking the first blow. To top it off, he is able to control his pain receptors while fighting so that even the gnarliest wound means nothing to him. And last but not least, he is capable of healing himself of fatal wounds (broken neck, gunshot wounds, etc.) as well as diseases such as HIV/AIDS.
Oh, and he can live self-sufficiently, meaning he does not need sustenance and can survive without food or water for indefinite periods of time.
What Midnighter’s relationship with Apollo might look like in the DCU’s The Authority
Midnighter and Apollo were two of the original members of the Stormwatch, a superhero team funded and influenced by the United Nations. After Stormwatch disbanded, a young superhero named Jenny Sparks gathered several of its original members – Midnighter and Apollo included – and created The Authority. Now out from under the thumb of the United Nations, The Authority had much more, well, authority to fight their enemies as they saw fit.
Throughout the course of both teams, Midnighter and Apollo’s on-and-off romantic relationship saw them become one of the first openly gay couples in mainstream comics. Keep in mind, this was in the 1990s, so their public pairing was a big deal for LGBTQ+ representation.
Midnighter and Apollo became husbands in 2002’s The Authority #29. Even after The Authority ventured into the DC universe with the New 52 and undid their marriage, the couple never stopped loving each other. In 2016, they went on to star in their own miniseries called Midnighter and Apollo, created by Steve Orlando and Fernando Blanco.
One of the best parts about Midnighter – and Apollo – is that his sexuality rarely overshadows other equally important aspects of himself; at the same time, his sexuality also remains an integral part of his identity. This duality compliments his complexity and encompasses the full, lived experience of queer people. Midnighters relationship with Apollo, while integral, never becomes all of who he is. Heck, he’s even seen fooling around on the gay dating app Grindr. For this reason, and many others, he’s seen as a respectful – albeit sometimes messy – representation of what it means to be a gay superhero.
With the addition of James Gunn’s The Authority to the list of upcoming DCU projects, it’s only a matter of time before Midnighter and Apollo’s love story finally gets the live-action adaption it deserves. After all, you can’t tell a story about The Authority without including Midnighter and Apollo. If done correctly, this would put the DCU leagues and bounds ahead of the MCU’s approach to LGBTQ+ representation, which has been nonexistent until recently and even then, done poorly.