In 1982, the pages of Captain America #268 quietly made history with the introduction of Arnie Roth, the first openly gay character to appear in a mainstream superhero comic. Arnie emerged at a time when neither the Marvel Universe nor the comic book industry was welcoming to queerness, within a comic centred around the superhero genre’s ongoing endeavour to explore and symbolise America. This analysis explores how Arnie’s story utilised the censorship of queer representation to instead bring queer people and their struggles to light within Marvel’s understanding of America and the American Dream.
