The next article comprises spoilers from Dark Crisis #1, on sale now.
The Dark Crisis has already seemingly claimed its first casualties after the dying of the Justice League. Nevertheless, Dark Crisis #1 (by Joshua Williamson, Daniel Sampere, Alejandro Sanchez, Tom Napolitano), might have made a vital mistake of their alternative of sufferer. The problem appeared to point out Chupacabra, the youngest of the brand new technology of Teen Titans, being assaulted by Deathstroke’s forces. He then had a bomb strapped to his chest, which detonated.
Whereas it is not confirmed if this killed him or not, it is arduous to think about how he would have escaped dying seeing as he had literal seconds to spare. What makes his dying such a miscalculation is that Chupacabra canonically identifies as queer. For him to not solely be assaulted, however then murdered throughout pleasure month unintentionally spits within the face of what the month is meant to be about: a celebration of affection and acceptance for the LGBTQIA+ group.
It is not arduous to check what occurred to Chupacabra to what may doubtlessly occur to somebody who additionally identifies as queer. The world has come a great distance from the times when being homosexual was a prison offense, however the discrimination and hatred directed in direction of the group has not gone away. There are nonetheless some who could be keen to assault an individual for not being heterosexual, concentrating on them out of nowhere for no different purpose than spite.
The parallels are there. Chupacabra was minding his personal enterprise when he was attacked by the Secret Society. They let him go, however clearly beat him so badly that he may barely stroll again to his house. Sadly, it additionally appears they wished to complete the job. Chupacabra stumbled into Titan Tower to hunt medical consideration, however did not notice that that they had strapped a bomb to him. Sadly, by the point anybody seen, the bomb detonated.
Now, granting DC the good thing about the doubt, it’s unlikely that this determination was intentionally made understanding it will coincide with pleasure month. Extra importantly, Chupacabra was not proven dying, it was solely proven that the bomb went off. Seeing as Nightwing is supposed to outlive into the subsequent difficulty and that he would have been at floor zero of the blast, it appears doubtless that if he survived one way or the other, then so too did Chupacabra.
That being mentioned, it may solely be Nightwing who managed to get away, perhaps whisked out of hurt’s manner by a speedster or shielded by a extra sturdy Titan. In that case, then Chupacabra nearly definitely was the one sufferer of the blast, his final moments being spent overwhelmed to a bloody pulp by individuals who had been on the lookout for a simple sufferer to rattle the Titans. This is perhaps a nightmare for DC from a publicity standpoint. They’ve already launched their newest guide compiling tales of queer characters in DC Pleasure #1.
So, for it to coincide with the violent dying of a hero from that group, and in a way that mirrors far too many real-life acts of violence towards the LGBTQIA+ group, it simply leaves a foul style within the mouth. It’s negligent on their half at greatest, and offensive on the worst. Hopefully, the writers of the collection had the foresight to see the place this might have been heading and had some final minute rescue deliberate for Chupacabra. In any other case, DC simply opened a can of worms on a month they supposed to have fun.