Salva Mubarak Senior Features Writer

This Pride Month, Marvel is introducing a new superhero mutant, Escapade, set to appear in Marvel’s Voices: Pride #1.

Over the past few years, we’ve seen a slow but steady rise in the representation of LGBTQ+ superheroes and characters in comic books and the movies and TV shows based on them. This is the first time, however, that Marvel has created a trans mutant.

Escapade, or Shela Sexton, has the extraordinary ability to switch circumstances with anyone or anything in the world.

“I wish I could hang out with Shela in real life. She is a total goofball, a cool weirdo who has a super strong sense of justice and a profound loyalty to her friends,” said co-creator Charlie Jane Anders. She would be seen doing general superhero stuff, like saving the world, with her trusty sidekick, a genetically engineered flying turtle called Hibbert, and her friend, fellow trans mutant Morgan Red.

“It was really important to me to have a whole community of trans mutants in this comic, not just Shela and Morgan, but others. And then it turned out writer Grace Freud had already created some wonderful characters in her comic in the same issue. I wanted it to be super clear that being a mutant is not a metaphor for being trans, and vice versa,” said Anders, on wanting the story to feel inclusive and comprehensive.

The story of Escapade and her adventures will continue on in further comic books.