For those of you who don’t know, December 1st is World AIDS Day--a day set aside to commemorate the estimated 25 million people who have died of HIV/AIDS and the 33 million people still currently living with AIDS since the disease first surfaced in 1981.
No time was more tragic, overwhelming, and baffling than the 80s and early 90s where so many people were dying so quickly without any cure in sight. According to the CDC and amfAR during the first 12 year in the US alone (1981-1993), 234,225 out of 360,909 infected individuals had passed away of complication due to HIV/AIDS.
Is it any wonder than, in a world gone mad, that comic book creators attempted to raise awareness through their chosen medium?
Although there were numerous friends of superheroes who contracted and died of HIV/AIDS during this time period--most depicted in one-shot, after-school special fashion--the X-Men tackled the problem in a unique way.
While numerous people have drawn parallels between the X-Men and the gay community, few have turned a spotlight on the Legacy Virus as an analog for AIDS within that community.
Beginning in 1993 and going through 2001, the Legacy Virus was a particularly efficient killer that targeted mutant and spread its way quickly through the mutant community. It impacted several big-name characters such as Mastermind, Avalanche, Pyro, Magik, Multiple Man, Moira MacTaggert, Maverick, Bolt, and Revanche.
There were multiple strains of the virus, which continued to mutate to counteract efforts at curing it. Once a mutant was infected, he or she would develop purple lesions on his or her body, have respiratory difficulties, and eventually lose control of their powers and die.
The virus was said to be airborne, but seemed to strike indiscriminately. Several well-known mutants spent lengths of time around other infected individuals without becoming infected themselves, while other small groups of associates seemed to pass the virus to one another.
Three of the five Externals pictured had Legacy; both Pyro and Avalanche as well
Because so little was understood about the virus and those who had it were stigmatized, those who became infected were treated as social pariahs, isolating themselves into small communities or suffering alone.
Several characters who didn’t understand the virus thought that it was some sort of divine punishment--human groups thought the virus was doing God’s work by killing off the abominable mutants--or believed that the government was behind the infection. One storyline in the Maverick solo-series, had the hero investigating a government group who sought to cure the virus only so that they could then profit from selling a limited vaccine.
Even though the Marvel U boasts some of the most brilliant heroes who have created unimaginable devices and medicines, the Legacy Virus was seen as predominantly a “mutant problem”. Mister Fantastic didn’t slave away in the lab; Iron Man didn’t devote limitless financial resources; SHIELD didn’t bring the arm of the government to help; Black Panther didn’t task his vaunted scientists to aid; the mutant community was expected to solve its own problems.
In one particularly poignant moment, an infected character speaks to the actual Greek god Zeus about his condition; we are left with a scene which almost certainly was meant to comment on the lack of divine intervention in our own AIDS crisis.
Convinced yet?
As a child, I knew nothing of AIDS--the few comments I heard from my parents echoed the ignorant “divine punishment” angle. But I was a perceptive boy who desperately searched between the panels of my comics to find a character like me. And when the Legacy Virus story began to break, I noticed that several coded gay characters started to fall ill.
Take Pyro, for instance: for the first few decades that this character existed, he was coded as gay. His appearance was foppish out of costume, he spoke in a refined manner (especially when placed next to his buddy Blob), and he seemed to deplore physical conflict.
Although many of these traits were butched up in later years, a perceptive child still held on to those images. So when a character I identified with began to exhibit AIDS-like symptoms, I sat up and payed attention. For Pyro (a long-time villain), he was able to make his last moments count by heroically saving the life of anti-mutant Senator Robert Kelly. His sacrifice went a long way in changing how that bigoted senator viewed the mutant race as a whole.
And, hopefully, many straight cisgender readers who had never been exposed to anyone living with HIV/AIDS--who wholeheartedly believed the negative media portrayal--began to change their opinions as well.
How did the story end, you ask? After years of tireless research, Beast and Moira MacTaggert (herself one of the only humans to contract the Legacy Virus) were able to devise a cure. Unfortunately, it would take a mutant sacrificing him or herself in order to release it worldwide. Colossus, who had lost his little sister Magik to the disease, stepped to the plate. Infected individuals all over the planet were instantly cured.
However, that’s where the similarities break down. Although we have medication that can help suppress HIV/AIDS to near-zero levels, there still is no cure. The CDC estimates that 50,000 new cases are being diagnosed each year. The only heroes we have on our team are the scientists who are devoting their lives to try and save ours.
And while our situation would be a lot worse without them fighting for us, consider doing something this World AIDS Day to help those within our community (and outside it) that are living with HIV/AIDS.
If you’d like to donate, please click here.
If you’d like to volunteer or join events, click here.
If you’d like to stand in solidarity, click here.
Let’s help to leave a real legacy this World AIDS Day.
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