Ambiguously Gay characters in the Marvel Universe.
A No Recent Examples rule applies to this trope. Examples for episodic works shouldn't be added until end of season for the season introducing the ambiguity (or after 3 months, for episodic works without seasons). This is to allow time for the story to develop the character and resolve ambiguity. There is no waiting time for non-episodic works.
Comic Books
- Runaways:
- In a series where every other humanoid character has had a relationship or Ship Tease with someone of the opposite sex (even Karolina was teased with Chase before she came out and he hooked up with Gert), Klara's most significant relationships are her sisterly relationship with Karolina and her Pseudo-Romantic Friendship with Molly. It's also worth noting that her parting gift for Molly was a giant bouquet of roses, and roses are both a traditional token of love and, in Klara's case, a literal part of her being.
- In Runaways (Rainbow Rowell), Abigail has had nearly fifty years to choose a friend to be her ageless "Best Friend Forever", knowing that she could only have one, and she chose Molly to receive this honor. She is also very touchy-feely with Molly.
- Spider-Man: Mysterio is sort of this. In the mainstream comics he's rarely, if ever, shown any interest in women and has had a few hints over the years (plus the Spidey standard of occasional Ho Yay). Some novels dropped the ambiguously part and made him explicitly gay; said novels are dubiously canon at best but pretty much everyone out-of-universe assumes he's gay at this point, even if the comics have yet to actually say it.
- Honey Badger, X-23's clone sister, warns Jean Grey in X-Men: Red #2 about unexplored feelings she had for a girl she saw on a bus when the latter is creating a psychic link for an upcoming mission. As Gabby is (biologically, thanks to being rapid-aged) thirteen, she's right at the age when children begin to develop their sexual identities, so the ambiguity is as much on her part as it is the story itself. The ambiguity is furthered by the future version of Gabby seen in the "Old Woman Laura" arc of All-New Wolverine, who is married to someone named "Taylor."
- Hannibal King in Marvel Comics The Tomb of Dracula and Nightstalkers series'. With the exception of his brief but awkward relationship with Tatiana Stiles, all of his other relationships with women have been platonic. His most significant relationship is his Bromance with Blade. A lot of his dialogue in Nightstalkers was camp and over the top. He was also the most Wangsty of the Nightstalker trio. He and Blade fight and argue a lot in the Nightstalkers comic, but not in the same way he fought with Frank Drake in Tomb. Unlike Blade and Frank's former contempt for each other, Blade's bickering with Hannibal comes off as Belligerent Sexual Tension. Even Johnny Blaze notices something when he points out something strange about a vampire hunter and a vampire are hanging out together. He also had a fabulous Victorian style costume. In the final pages of the Nightstalkers comic when it is thought that he dies fighting Varnae, his last words are: "Frank, Blade...I...love...you. The very camp live action depiction by Ryan Reynolds must have picked up on something in the comics, or it could have just been Reynolds channeling Van Wilder.
- Blade at one time had Saffron Caulder as his woman but she vanished after The '70s. He also seems to like leather outfits a whole lot.
- In Heroes Reborn (2021): Night-Gwen, Gwen is invited out to dinner by Misty Knight in a text with a heart emoji, they bicker jokingly over who's paying, and Gwen's friends the Night Nurses outright refer to it as a date ... but Gwen's narration just calls Misty a friend. She's also not shown to have had any relationships with men, with Flash Thompson being driven mad over the fact they never dated.
Films
- Ant-Man and the Wasp: After Scott mistakes Jimmy Woo's "I'll be seeing you" as a legitimate invitation, Jimmy clarifies the confusion, but then backtracks and seems to be down for going on a date with Scott. Which they do!
- Wade Wilson, a. k. a. Deadpool in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. While no one actually says it, it's heavily implied: first, Victor (Sabertooth) says, "I thought you didn't like girls, Wade." Immediately after that, Wade jokingly offers Victor a manicure with his katana. A couple of minutes later, when everyone is stuck in an elevator, Wade says, "I'm stuck in an elevator with five guys on high-protein diets. Dreams really do come true." It doesn't help that he's played by Ryan Reynolds. However, all of these examples could be interpreted differently: claiming someone is homosexual is just an immature means of emasculating them, offering to give Victor a manicure with his katana could have just been a crack about his long claws, and the "high protein diets" comment could be a fart joke.
Live-Action TV
- Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Alphonso "Mack" Mackenzie, so much so that roughly half of the entries on the series' Ho Yay page involve him in someway, especially in his interactions with the Ambiguously Bi Fitz, who are currently enjoying Fan-Preferred Couple status on the Internet. Most of the questions surrounding Mack's sexuality come from the fact that when he discusses his exes with the team during one episode he never specifies the gender of his former significant others, and it seems very deliberate on the writing team's part. His only significant relationship with a woman is with Bobbi. Then again he does start up a relationship with Elena so perhaps he falls under Ambiguously Bi.
- Luke Cage (2016): Shades is a somewhat odd example because the narrative establishes that he is at least bisexual. It's revealed that he had a past sexual relationship with his friend Comanche in prison that is heavily implied to be more than just Situational Sexuality, but in the present day, he enters into a relationship with main villain Mariah Dillard. However, they have next to no romantic or sexual chemistry onscreen, and he never seems particularly happy about dating her and has a hair-trigger temper whenever the subject of their relationship is brought up. In the end he comes off less as a bisexual and more as a gay man who took on a beard to maintain his street cred.
