"Arrow" Casts First-Ever African American Gay Superhero
Proving that even superheros are savvy to the times, Arrow has cast Echo Kellum (Ben and Kate) in the role of Curtis Holt/Mr. Terrific, the show's first openly gay, African American superhero.
“We’re often asked when we’re going to add another LGBT character to the show and our version of Mr Terrific happens to be gay for anyone that cares about that kind of stuff," executive producer Marc Guggenheim revealed.
The character was first introduced to the DC Comics world in 1997, however this is the first iteration to have the character be gay. In the comic, Holt is a self-made billionaire and Olympic gold-medal winning decathlete who becomes a superhero after the death of his wife and unborn baby.
On Arrow, Holt is described as a technological savant and inventor who works at Palmer Technologies under the supervision of Felicity Smoak (Emily Bett Rickards).
Mr. Terrific will join Arrow's openly bisexual Sara Lance/Canary (Caity Lotz) as the only LGBT superhero currently on television (Andy Mientus appeared last season on Arrow spin-off The Flash in a multi-episode arc as the openly gay Hartley Rathaway/Pied Piper.)
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Canary[/caption]
Just last year, openly gay co-creator and producer Greg Berlanti spoke to the Advocate about his desire to include more LGBT characters on the show saying, "the next step is to add a regular character, not just a recurring one... because I think that’s important and I’d like to do that in the next year."
That time could be now (finger's crossed), with no word on whether or not Mr. Terrific will become a series regular for Season 4.
Arrow returns for its fourth season October 7 on the CW.
