Not only does Steve Orlando’s Midnighter comic star a gay man, it tells blunt, sex-positive stories about that character. The main cast of characters in the upcoming main Avengers comic All-New, All-Different Avengers has only one white dude.

While there is still a lot of work on the road to a utopia of complete social justice, there is a trend of progressivism in some of today’s superhero comics that is impossible to ignore.

“There’s certainly a long way to go, but [the comics industry] is moving in the right direction,” said Orlando via phone interview on Oct. 23.

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