Joss Whedon Almost Ruined Marvel’s First Gender-Fluid Character
The character Xavin from The Runaways was ground-breaking for being Marvel's first gender-fluid hero, but Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon almost undid that progress. In the mid-2000s The Runaways, along with the New X-Men and Young Avengers, were Marvel’s first earnest attempts at new socially diverse teams of young people of varying, backgrounds, body types, races, and sexual identities. Proper representation can be a rocky road, but when Brian K. Vaughan introduced the gender-fluid Skrull character Xavin midway through the series' second volume, they seemed like a natural fit. Unfortunately when Whedon took over The Runaways in 2008, he made a change to Xavin’s identity that, while intended to be celebratory, wound up making the book look tone-deaf and reductive.
Xavin is a Super Skrull in training from the planet Tarnax VII who arrives on Earth to fulfill a peacekeeping arranged marriage with Runaways member Karolina Dean, another space alien from the rival Majesdanian species. As a Super Skrull, Xavin can replicate the abilities of any Fantastic Four member, but Xavin also takes a human form that changes from male to female at will based on emotion or what they feel the situation calls for, a power fantasy rarely explored in western media. Karolina identifies as a lesbian and is apprehensive to the idea of arranged marriage but ultimately falls for the deeply considerate Xavin, who joins the Runaways’ team.
Related: Marvel's Runaways Has Their Own House Of M Moment
In issue #29 of Joss Whedon’s Runaways story arc, “Dead End Kids,” with art by Michael Ryan, the team travels back in time to 1907, when superheroes were just beginning to appear in New York City. Up to this point Xavin’s human form has been
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