Northstar (character)

Northstar (Jean-Paul Beaubier) is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Chris Claremont and John Byrne, the character first appeared in The Uncanny X-Men #120 (April 1979) as a member of the Canadian superhero team Alpha Flight. Northstar is a member of a fictional subspecies of humanity known as mutants, who are born with superhuman abilities. The character possesses the ability to travel at superhuman speeds, fly, and project photonic energy blasts. His twin sister, Aurora, possesses similar abilities. Although the character was initially depicted as a member of Alpha Flight, he has appeared regularly as a member of the X-Men since joining the team of mutants in The Uncanny X-Men #414 (December 2002). The character is one of the first openly gay superheroes in American comic books, and the first openly gay character to come out in a book published by Marvel Comics. He married his husband, Kyle Jinadu, in Astonishing X-Men #51 (June 2012), which was the first depiction of a same-sex wedding in mainstream comics. Northstar debuted in The Uncanny X-Men #120 (April 1979) as part of the Canadian government sponsored team Alpha Flight, who sought to take Wolverine of the X-Men into custody. In 1983, Alpha Flight went on to star in its own comic, with Northstar as a charter member. In addition to the Alpha Flight comic and associated annuals, Northstar and other members of the team made numerous guest appearances in other titles, particularly Uncanny X-Men and Wolverine. Northstar was also featured in miniseries including two X-Men and Alpha Flight series and Secret Wars II. Creator John Byrne was reluctant to produce an initial run of the 1983 Alpha Flight comic series for lack of developed and compelling characters. They had no back-stories and were created as nothing more than a team to face the X-Men. So in order to make the team less two-dimensional and more developed, Northstar's sexual orientation was subtly introduced into the start of the new Alpha Flight series.