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- 9 non-canon LGBTQ ships that are worth obsessing over for Pride Month
9 non-canon LGBTQ ships that are worth obsessing over for Pride Month
- For years, queer fans have paired up their favorite fictional characters in LGBTQ+ relationships.
- This is mostly due to the historic lack of LGBTQ+ representation in media.
"Supergirl" could have been groundbreaking as the first superhero series to feature a lead LGBTQ+ ship with Supercorp.
"Supergirl" is one of the most prominent queer ships in recent years.
The LGBTQ+ community has been starved of representation in media for a long time, which has led a lot of fans to ship — that is, pair romantically — some of their favorite TV show and movie characters.
Last year, "Supergirl" fans were disappointed after the series ended without any real romantic closure for Supercorp, the ship name given to the titular character (Melissa Benoist) and Lena Luthor (Katie McGrath).
Lena Luthor, the half-sister of Superman's nemesis, Lex Luthor, first arrives in season 2 of the series and spends much of the show in an on-again, off-again alliance with Supergirl.
However, fans often pointed out that the characters' chemistry seemingly indicated that they were more than friends. And in the 100th episode, Supergirl explores alternate dimensions in which the fate of the world is literally affected by her relationship with Lena. She uses this information to distance herself from Lena, but one could argue that the episode implies that they are each incomplete without the other.
Unlike other shows on this list, there is a lot of LGBTQ+ representation already in "Supergirl," such as Dreamer (Nicole Maines), the first trans superhero on TV.
However, it may have been more groundbreaking to have Supergirl, as the lead, also be a positive representation for that community, considering the lack of representation in mainstream superhero media.
It would also be an interesting reversal of the usual antagonistic relationship between Lex Luthor and Supergirl's cousin, Superman.
Dean and Castiel from "Supernatural" deserved romance rather than the "bury your gays" trope.
Dean Winchester (Jensen Ackles) and Castiel (Misha Collins) from "Supernatural" are another non-canon couple that fans have been begging to be real.
Castiel saves Dean from hell in his first appearance in season 4 and helps the Winchester family save the world from the apocalypse across 11 more seasons.
Castiel has particular chemistry with Dean, which prompted the ship Destiel. Even other characters called them "boyfriends" throughout the show.
In a way, Destiel is canon. In season 15, Castiel makes a deal in order to save Dean by sacrificing himself. In order to do so, Castiel must experience a true moment of happiness, and thus reveals to Dean that he has always loved him. Then Castiel dies.
The moment sent Twitter into a frenzy and Collins later said in an interview that the scene "makes Destiel canon."
But Dean never really gets a chance to respond and it is never openly stated that he and Castiel were a couple.
The scene also leans very heavily into the "bury your gays" trope, wherein, in TV series or movies, LGBTQ+ characters are killed off more frequently than straight ones.
This was not the only LGBTQ+ representation in the series, but Destiel fans definitely deserved better than a last-minute confession before removing any chance of Castiel and Dean being an open, romantic couple.
"Avengers: Endgame" should have ended with Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes together.
Fans have come up with multiple non-canon queer ships for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but one of the main ones to stick has been the former Captain America, Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), and Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan).
Stucky, the ship name created by fans, was first introduced in "Captain America: The First Avenger" as longtime friends. They are separated during the war when Bucky falls to his apparent death, but the sequel, "The Winter Soldier," reveals that Bucky was in fact turned into a super-assassin by an evil organization.
Steve spends the next two "Captain America" sequels essentially fighting to save Bucky. This is partly why fans were very upset when "Avengers: Endgame" ended with the hero ditching his best friend in the present to time-travel to the past and be with his crush from the first movie, Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell).
While it was a heartwarming ending to the "Infinity War" saga, some fans argued that it took away Steve's journey of learning to accept his new life in the present. A solution that still gives fans a happy ending: Let Steve and Bucky ride off into the sunset together.
There is enough chemistry between the two characters; Steve risked his own life in "Winter Soldier" and split the Avengers in "Civil War" all to save Bucky. Bucky also deserves more than being left in the future by his best friend.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe track record with open LGBTQ+ characters was more or less nonexistent until last year, when "Eternals" and "Loki" premiered.
Stucky would have given the franchise some much-needed representation earlier on.
From episode 1, even characters in "Sherlock" could see the lead characters were meant to be a couple.
Throughout "Sherlock," the titular character (Benedict Cumberbatch) and John Watson (Martin Freeman) develop a symbiotic relationship that made fans believe that they might be lovers.
In the popular 2010 BBC adaptation, the pair first begin to form a sort of carer-and-patient relationship before becoming friends.
In the first few episodes of the show, there is even an ongoing joke that people see them as a couple. Their landlord, Mrs. Hudson, implies that she thinks they are a couple when she first meets them, and later on Watson is called Sherlock's "date" when they decide to have dinner at a restaurant.
The cast and writers have denied in the past the pair are anything more than friends but that has done little to stop the fan theories.
There is the argument that both characters have shown signs of jealousy when the other has a romantic partner, and that Watson is unable to hold any other romantic relations while in the orbit of Sherlock.
Toxic or not, there is at least enough evidence that Sherlock and Watson are made for each other: Sherlock brings adventure to Watson's world. Watson keeps Sherlock down to earth.
The pair being more than friends would just give an underrepresented group more representation.
The "X-Men" movie series almost created a brilliant enemies-to-lovers storyline with Magneto and Professor Xavier.
The "X-Men" movie series showed Magneto and Professor Xavier as friends, rivals, and temporary allies, but the one relationship status they left out was lovers.
That has not stopped fans from clamoring for "Cherik," a relationship name combining Xavier's first name, Charles, and Magneto's real name, Erik.
In the comics and movies, the pair mostly lead the opposing sides of the mutant race debate: Should the race of superpowered individuals assimilate into society and hide their abilities or should they share their powers with the world openly, no matter the fears of humans?
The rivalry between Magneto and Xavier in the comics gives far more evidence of their romance, however, there is also an insane amount of chemistry between the actors playing them in the films.
In the original 2000s trilogy, Magneto (Ian McKellen) and Xavier (Patrick Stewart) play a cat-and-mouse game of never trying to kill each other, despite being sworn enemies. This might be out of respect, or for the movie's plot, but for someone so hellbent on mutant supremacy, you would think Magneto would at least attempt to directly attack his rival, especially since he is immune to Xavier's power.
Fans also point to the chemistry in the bromantic relationship between Michael Fassbender's Magneto and James McAvoy's Xavier in the 2010s "X-Men" films
The biggest sign comes in the 2014 film, "X-Men: Days of Future Past," which is set in a future where McKellen's Magneto and Stewart's Xavier team up against an existential threat to all mutants. While this was to show the importance of the threat, the pair act almost like an old married couple.
McKellen has spoken to BuzzFeed in the past about how the "X-Men" movies could be an allegory for the struggles of the LGBTQ+ community.
It would have been better to take it one step further and actually have open LGBTQ+ characters on the team.
A "Xena: Warrior Princess" queer ship was blocked by the studio behind it.
Xena (Lucy Lawless) and Gabrielle (Renee O'Connor) are one of the oldest queer ships on the list.
"Xena: Warrior Princess," the '90s spin-off of "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys," was already revolutionary for having two female leads in a fantasy series. But a big part of the fandom started to feel that the relationship between Xena and Gabrielle was deeply queercoded.
There are a lot of reasons why this non-canon couple should have been real.
For starters, they kissed. On multiple occasions. In fact, in season 2, when Gabrielle finds Xena in a spirit world after multiple episodes of being "dead," the first thing the warrior princess does is kiss her. A three-episode arc in season 6 shows that the pair are soulmates by having the Xena break an "only true love's kiss" type of curse.
Lawless herself told Australian magazine Stellar that she agreed that they were a romantic couple.
It is likely the main reason the relationship was never explicit was due to the time the series was made.
Co-creator Rob Tapert told Entertainment Weekly in 2016 that the production studio behind the series, Universal Television, went so far as to ban Xena and Gabrielle from appearing on screen together in the opening titles because they were "so concerned" that the series would be perceived as "a lesbian show."
O'Connor, who was part of the interview, added: "We were very aware that there was only so much we could do because it was a show on network television. So any time Rob would push the envelope as much as he could, he had to work within certain guidelines."
The "Star Wars" sequels would have had better LGBTQ+ representation if Finn and Poe were a couple.
Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) and Finn (John Boyega) is another popular gay ship that the "Star Wars" sequel trilogy should have committed to.
The pair first meet in "The Force Awakens," in which Finn saves Poe from being tortured by the enemy and they both end up fighting side-by-side in the rebellion.
For starters, the actors themselves were up for it. Boyega told Variety in 2019: "They've always had a quite loving and open relationship in which it wouldn't be too weird if it went beyond it."
Isaac told IGN in 2019: "I think there could've been a very interesting, forward-thinking – not even forward-thinking, just, like, current-thinking – love story there, something that hadn't quite been explored yet. Particularly the dynamic between these two men in war that could've fallen in love with each other."
Isaac also added that he tried to push it "in that direction" but the "Disney overlords" put a stop to it.
Secondly, it would have enhanced both Poe and Finn's stories in the trilogy. Fans felt that Finn's story wasn't as developed as the other lead characters in the trilogy, and even Boyega told GQ in 2020 that his character had been "pushed to the side."
It would have been interesting to develop a romantic connection between Poe and Finn, rather than the multiple interchanging love triangles involving Finn, Rey, Rose (Kelly Marie Tran), and Kylo (Adam Driver).
Finally, it would have also been a much more significant form of representation than the disappointing lesbian kiss at the end of "The Rise of Skywalker."
"Pitch Perfect" should have made Bechloe a real thing instead of making it a joke.
The "Pitch Perfect" trilogy leaned into the idea that Beca Mitchell (Anna Kendrick) and Chloe Beale (Brittany Snow) could have been a couple so much so that the franchise was accused of queerbaiting.
In 2018, Them writer Ella Donald pointed out that even the marketing for the franchise tempted queer fans "with false promises" by teasing "Bechloe," the characters' ship name, ahead of the final movie.
The first movie was unintentionally filled with sexual subtext between the two characters. One of the most memorable scenes was when Chloe interrupts Beca midshower and forces her to sing with her. However, the sequels turned the idea of them being anything more than friends into a running joke.
At one point in "Pitch Perfect 2," Beca and Chloe sleeping face-to-face and the latter says: "You know, one of my biggest regrets is that I didn't do enough experimenting in college."
The series' main gay character, Cynthia Rose (Esther Dean), was also treated as a joke in the first movie — in which Rebel Wilson's Fat Amy has an ongoing gag of "outing" her before she confesses at the end of the movie — and is later sidelined in the sequels.
Throughout the series, queerness was used for laughs. It would have been better to trade that for real, positive representation.
Merlin and Arthur's incredible chemistry and flirty banter in "Merlin" made fans couple them up.
Arthur (Bradley James) and Merlin (Colin Morgan) in "Merlin" is another example in which the chemistry between the two actors made it almost impossible to argue that they were just friends.
The 2008 BBC series followed the Arthurian legend from the point of view of his advisor, Merlin, a young warlock who becomes the hand servant of the prince of Camelot.
Merlin finds out it's his destiny to protect the arrogant, spoiled Arthur, without revealing his magical abilities, which are illegal in Camelot.
The series follows the typical rivals-to-friends-to-brothers arc, but from the very start, their relationship is filled with romantic subtext from the flirty banter to their destinies being intertwined.
Throughout the series, both characters risk their lives for each other, even going up against family members and other friends, and over time they form a genuine connection.
By the end of the series, it is clear that they are at least soulmates, even in a platonic sense.
However, it would not have been difficult to push this a step further into romance and give LGBTQ+ audiences more representation.
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