Marvel has announced plans to release Marvel United: A Pride Special this June in conjunction with Pride Month. The anthology will feature four stories “celebrating LGBTQIA+ creators and characters” and is a return to an anthology that calls out “Pride” in the title, something they received criticism for last year.
In 2024, Marvel received criticism for X-Men: The Wedding Special, which replaced the usual Marvel’s Voices: Pride special they published for three years prior. While the content was similar to a Pride anthology, as it featured multiple stories about LGBTQIA+ characters in addition to the main story about Mystique and Destiny’s wedding, dropping “Pride” from the title came at a time when many companies were facing backlash for their Pride activities. Everyone from Target to Budweiser were being raked over the coals by conservative groups, and many felt that it looked like Marvel was backing away from potential backlash of their own. Add to that, last year also brought a line of “ally” covers that did not go over well for the publisher, as it looked like they were putting a focus on straight characters during Pride Month.
(I should note that Marvel does have plans for a line of Pride Month variant covers again this year, but they have not revealed them yet. Hopefully they are a bit more dynamic than last year’s covers).
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