This article was originally published in December 2009.

Say what you will about the Twilight franchise — and there’s a lot you can say — one of the positives of the series is its prominent Native American characters, including a romantic lead.

And since you can’t turn on a television or computer without being bombarded by advertisements for New Moon, it got me thinking about the general lack of representation that exists for native people in mainstream entertainment, and fantasy doesn’t fare much better.

This isn’t to say that they don’t exist, however, and when I think back on all the various fantasy stories I’ve absorbed in my lifetime, there are actually some pretty fascinating characters…

7. Warpath

When the X-men recruited new members for the first time since their humble beginning, one of the new class was an Apache mutant named Thunderbird, who was very quickly killed off. Years later, his younger brother, also a mutant, took the name Warpath, and adopted a costume similar to his brother’s. Though he initially blamed the X-men for Thunderbird’s death, he later realized they were not at fault, and joined the heroic team X-Force.

6. Elisa Maza

In the 90s, Disney came out withGargoyles, a surprisingly dark and interesting cartoon series which featured a group of stone-by-day, flesh-by-night creatures who were connected to the human world by their best friend, a policewoman named Elisa Maza. What was impressive about her character was that she was a good person and a strong, intelligent cop, who just happened to be a woman, and half-African-American, half-Hopi to boot. This is the kind of diversity we need to see more of in children’s programming.

5. Danielle Moonstar

The second X-man on the list (which is a series that scores high points in diversity), Moonstar was a young girl of Cheyenne heritage when she was first brought into the X-men’s junior team, the New Mutants. Her main power was the ability to project images of people’s worst fears into their head, and she also had an empathic rapport with animals. Later on, she honed her psychic powers to be able to generate bursts of psionic force.

4. Little Bear

One of my absolute favorite books as a child was The Indian in the Cupboard, which is perhaps the story most responsible for imbuing me with a lifelong love of fantasy. For anyone who never read it, you’re truly missing out on a phenomenal tale of a young English boy named Omri who is gifted a magical cupboard that makes his toys come alive, and the relationship he forms with the proud Iroquois, Little Bear, who comes out of the cupboard standing six inches tall. Little Bear is actually a very real man who was transported from his own time by the magic of the cupboard, and he teaches Omri many things, among them how to respect those who are different from you. (There’s a movie version, but I don’t recommend it.)

3. Pocahontas

Though the fantastical Disney tale differs wildly from the actual history — talking trees aside, Pocahontas was a child when John Smith arrived, instead of a full-grown hottie with a figure Barbie would envy — Disney’s Pocahontas is a relatively decent entry in its animated musical repertoire. It tells the story from both sides’ points of view, and in Pocahontas we’re given yet another young, independent, headstrong female lead, as is the Disney staple. (It’s a shame the best song from the score, entitled “If I Never Knew You,” was cut from the final version of the film. You can, fortunately, find it on Youtube.)

2. Mani

An often overlooked gem, Brotherhood of the Wolf (Le Pacte des loupes) is a pretty cool film from our buddies in France, featuring a French taxidermist and his companion, an Iroquois warrior named Mani played by Mark Dacascos, who kicks a whole lot of ass throughout the film. What’s nice to see is that Mani, an outsider for not only not being a Frenchman but a Native American as well, is one of the most likable (and badass) characters in the film.

1. Jacob Black

All right, we knew this was inevitable. Love it or hate it, the Twilight series does boast not one but several Native American characters (belonging to the Quileute tribe), and the fact that Jacob Black is a romantic, heroic lead is nice to see in a genre picture such as this one. Now if only we could do something about those screaming tween girls.

So, as we can see, while there is some representation of Native American characters, the fact remains that across the media of television, film, and books, stories are still shamefully lacking. In fact, I think one would be hard-pressed to find many more examples of decent, 3-dimensional Native Americans in fiction in general, and that is, quite frankly, a travesty.

Maybe, in the end, that will be Twilight’s legacy: helping to bring Native American characters into the spotlight, and setting a trend for future writers to follow. One can only hope.

So I guess this means I’m on Team Jacob, huh?

• Two new Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows featurettes. (I’m looking forward to the movie, but truthfully, I’m kinda featurette-d out.)

• Director Bryan Singer talks X-Men: First Class (which he’s producing). Nutshell? It takes place in the early 60s when Xavier and Magnetto first meet. And no, contrary to the rumors, Wolverine isn’t making a cameo.

• Everything you want to know about Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World, from the mouths of those involved, interviewed by Guillermo del Toro (video).

• Conan gets a release date: August 19th.

• A clip from Tron: Legacy. What’s Jeff Bridges been doing all these years?

• That musical version of the Michael Jackson song “Thriller” that I (and everyone) was mocking last week? The director contacts EW to say, “It’s really early in the process!” They don’t necessarily even have the rights. It sounds like someone had a meeting about it once. (The internet got ahead of itself? That’s never happened before!)

• Empire Magazine has a sneak peek at the new Steven Spielberg/Peter Jackson movie Tintin (most of which is only available in the print magazine).

• Two more dwarves get cast in The Hobbit: James Nesbitt (Bofir) and Adam Brown (Ori).

• TV’s worst adaptations of sci-fi and fantasy novels. Should Legend of the Seeker be on the list? Depends on how much you liked the original books, it seems.

• Guess who was almost Ellen Ripley? Meryl Streep.

• The trailer is out for the new Jack Black Gulliver’s Travels movie … and boy, does it look stoooopid!

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• One of my biggest heroes is writer extraordinaire Jane Espenson, who gave us some of the best Buffy episodes and whose blog I cannot live without. io9 has a great interview with her and other TV writers about what goes down in the writers’ room.

• I actually didn’t hate Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls as much as many other geeks out there. (I did hate the title, though.) So I’m willing to shell out more dough if they ever make another one, and according to Harrison Ford, they just may be, this one focusing on the Bermuda Triangle.

• I wouldn’t mind being Michael Fassbender. Studios are fighting over him to play either Magneto in X-Men: First Class or the as-yet-unnamed villain in the new Spider-man flick. Not a bad position to be in, eh?

• Anyone have any info on what this is, exactly? What we’re looking at here is a super-dark reimagining of Mortal Kombat that removes most of the more magical elements … but is it a trailer for a game? A new movie? A TV show? Either way, I’m not sure I like this direction for MK. (Thanks to Dan for the tip-off!)

• One of the best non-spandexy superhero-ish comic series of the 90s was Garth Ennis’ Preacher, which has been bandied about for cinematic adaptation for years. Seems like things are still just as up in the air as ever, but at least there’s some enthusiasm.

• It’s not exactly the rumored American remake, but it seems that Starz will be airing the fourth Torchwood series for American television (and co-financing as well, it seems).

• The always-good-for-a-laugh Cracked gives us a great list about why it would totally suck to live in these popular fictional universes.

• Don’t forget to vote for the Sexiest Woman of Fantasy, right here at TheTorchOnline.com! Our poll will be open until the end of the week. At the time of this writing, Kahlan and Cara of Legend of the Seeker are dead tied!

• And finally, since I would be shot for not posting this …

As you know by now — what with the nine-point Richter scale fanboy squeal that detonated this time last week — the first Scott Pilgrim vs. The World trailer has finally dropped.

The film follows the “seven evil exes” arc from Bryan Lee O’Malley’s stellar graphic novels, and since I have not yet been afflicted with Michael Cera backlash, I loved it — especially the part where Mae Whitman’s Roxie Richter tells Scott Pilgrim that she’s going to kill him. (It was like the Bland Ann Veal/George Michael Bluth fisticuffs I always wanted! Remember when they were almost pre-engaged!)

It’s actually endearing how Scott Pilgrim fights Ramona’s former flames to win her affection, but as I was watching the trailer I realized that if Scott Pilgrim and/or Michael Cera were ever called upon to battle the worst fantasy ex-boyfriends and/or girlfriends, they would be toast.

With that in mind, my best friends and I made a list of the ten worst fantasy exes.

Jean Grey/Phoenix, X-Men: The Last Stand — In the third X-Men movie, a grieving Cyclops discovered that his girlfriend had risen from the dead, and was infinitely hotter than she had been in her first life. (That hair! My God!) He was overjoyed when he found her there by the lake, but then she kissed him and his head literally exploded. (She tried the same thing with another X-Man later on, but Hugh Jackman’s deltoids Wolverine’s willpower was too strong for her.)

Merope Gaunt, Harry Potter — Things with your ex-girlfriend are always going to be awkward, especially when the child you fathered while under the spell of her love potion decides to murder you and your new family in the genocide he spawns while he’s on his quest for immortality. Oh, also: It’s hard to remember when you ever thought it was cute that she spoke Snake.

Jill Roberts, Chuck — It wasn’t enough for Jill to break Chuck’s heart in college by leaving him for his best friend. Noooo, then she had to show up in his life years later as a triple-agent with designs to either: a) turn him over to the bad guys, b) kill him dead c) woo him into re-falling in love with her or d) break-up him and his soul mate. She almost accomplished all of the above. Unfortunately, brown-eyed/brown-haired women are my Kryptonite. So, I get it. But I don’t like it.

Darth Vader, Star Wars — Slashing innocent children to death with a lightsaber? Not exactly what I’d call “boyfriend material.” But once Padmé was out of the picture, things got even worse! Anakin quickly became a heavy-breather with a penchant for trying to kill his own son. And how about when he almost let his children fall in love with one another? Not cool, Vader. Incest is not cool.

Lex Luthor, Lois and Clark — In the first season finale of the Greatest Superhero Show of Our Generation, Lois stared at herself in the mirror in her wedding dress and practiced saying her new name: “Mrs. Lex Luthor. Lois Lane Luthor. Lois … Lois Lane … Lois Lane Kent.” Mr. Lex Luthor? Not so much a fan of her attachment to the name Kent. He even came back from the dead to prove just how much he hated it.

Boomer, Battlestar Galactica — Shot an admiral? Check. Joined the Cylons? Check. Had tricky-pretending-to-be-someone-else-adultery-sex? Check. Kidnapped children? Check. My best BSG buddy chose Boomer over Gaius and/or Six for all of those reasons, even though Gaius and Six did “so much bad things together.”

Frances ‘Frankie’ Kane, The Flash — Superheroes always have complicated love lives, but as soon as Wally West evolved from Kid Flash into The Flash, Frances walked out on him. Maybe if she’d stayed, she wouldn’t have gotten hypnotized into being Magenta. And maybe she wouldn’t have gotten her father’s demon soul implanted into her. It was always the blame game with Frankie Kane. She needs some serious therapy. And a new brain.

Zoebot, Caprica — Every date can’t be canoodling on a canopy bed floating on a pristine lake surrounded by rose petals. Or, you know, flying Vipers. But you’d hope your girlfriend might remember those good times when you want to burn her soul off her meta-cognitive processor. But not Zoebot. She came unhinged, flung her ex-boyfriend across the room, and cracked his skull. Apocalypse anyone?

Rolf, The Sound of Music — I know what you’re thinking: The Sound of Music is not fantasy, Heather Hogan! Well, why don’t you trek on over to Wikipedia and find out about the real von Trapp family (spoiler alert: Sister Maria pregnant out of wedlock!) and then tell me the musical isn’t fantasy. And so let’s talk about Rolf. I hated him from the moment he started that condescending “you need someone older and wiser” song-and-dance, but when he blew his whistle on Liesel and the whole von Trapp Family, well, that was just way over the line. I’ll take care of you, Rolf — with a swift kick to the Nazi sack.

Gollum, Lord of the Rings — There are exes who want to kill you, to kill your new partner, to blow up the whole world. And yes, that’s annoying — but then there are exes who just can’t let go. They hole up in caves and lose all sense of personal hygiene and before you know it, they’re walking on all-fours and muttering into the dark about “their precious” this and “their precious” that. That’s not just irritating; it’s downright menacing. We hates it. Tricksy little exes!

Thanks to Joe, Ashley, Kat, Abigail and Jennie for helping me make this list!

• We all know that The Last Airbender is coming soon, as the movie is about to get an Avatar-like push from all media. (Interestingly, the name of the anime on which it’s based is Avatar: The Last Airbender.) io9 has a lengthy interview with M. Night Shyamalan which addresses, among other subjects, the controversy surrounding the ethnicities of the actors cast in the film.

• Oh, look, more Hobbit news. Now it’s delayed. Again. For this week, at least. Jeez.

• In other news that’s quickly growing tired, we have an X-men update: now Bryan Singer will be producing, not directing the prequel, X-men: First Class. I need something to get me cheerful, stat.

• Yay, found it! The good ol’ folk at io9 has a great list of upcoming popcorn movies to hold us over until summer. I’m looking forward to pretty much all of these.

• Apparently great writers think alike. Way back in July of ‘09, I thought I invented the term “F*%$ Yeah Moment” in an article listing the top seven said moments in fantasy films. But the internet never lies (seriously — everything you read on it is true — always) and so I’ve learned that a blogger named Dave beat me to the punch by about four years. Check out his awesome list of great … ahem … moments in comics.

• I’m a huge sucker for zombie movies. I freaking love them. And even though I didn’t love George Romero’s last two movies, I have enough fanboy loyalty to get excited about the upcoming Survival of the Dead. Here’s the new red band trailer:

• And while we’re on the subject of zombies, here’s a hilarious piece of correspondence between two guys in a zombie-infested world, courtesy of Cracked.com.

• I’m not exactly sure the world is clamoring for sequels to Independence Day, but guess what? We might be getting them anyway.

• Finally, you know what there’s not nearly enough of in the world? Star Wars rap videos. Seriously.

• Let’s get the most important news of the country out of the way first: earlier today, President Barack Obama, before television cameras and, indeed, the eyes of the entire country, formalized an initiative that has had most of the nation on the edge of their seats. After long, rigorous debates, in which members from all sides of the spectrum weighed in their opinions, our nation’s leader has finally and decisively signed into law the fact that Chris Evans will play Captain America.

• Apparently, after this historic and bound-to-be-legendary act, President Obama found a scrap of paper on the ground with … some sort of health care reform ideas? I don’t know, it doesn’t sound very interesting, but here’s 5 Dystopias that it might prevent, including a mutant plague. Awesome.

• Remember how last year we announced the upcoming Greek myth film, War of the Gods, and then recently mentioned how the title changed to Dawn of War? Well, according to some sources it’s back to War of the Gods, while its IMDB page still lists Dawn of War. Whatever it’s called, Twilight hunk Kellan Lutz has been cast as Poseidon, the god of the sea. As a Greek myth buff, you know I’m'a be all over this piece like wine on Dionysus as it develops. (I just cemented my supergeek status, didn’t I? Le sigh.)

• This doth breaketh my fanboy heart: there is a possibility that Bryan Singer may not return to the X-men franchise after all. Singer’s original X-men, which premiered in the summer of 2000 and can be given a lot of credit for the current boom in superhero movies (which, arguably, is dubious praise), was a fine piece of work, and the follow-up sequel, X2: X-men United, was about as sublime as a superhero movie gets. Brett Ratner’s tepid X-men 3 and the abysmal Wolverine prove that Singer is the man who needs to be helming these movies if they stand a chance of reclaiming their former glory.

• It’s only been very recently that I became a fan of Doctor Who (by way of Torchwood), but let me say that I am hooked (I totally know my Daleks from my Cybermen), and am greatly looking forward to the next season, or “series,” as they say across the pond. Oh, those British, with their “series” and their “bums.” Someday we’ll teach them proper English.

• Toy Story 3 is coming out about a bajillion years after the previous installment, and they’ve got some new characters for ya, with such colorful names as Dolly and … erm … Mr. Pricklepants.  (Look, I just report it.) They’re even nice enough to give you some weird, slightly creepy silent Youtube videos of the characters slowly turning in a circle. Uh … huh.

• We recently showed you the wildly popular Batman (with a lightsaber) vs. Great White Shark picture which has been blowing up the internets, and here’s the next installment: Batman vs. Darth Vader.

• We all know that being a bounty hunter is the most kick-ass profession out there — just ask Dog. Here’s a list of Seven Bounty Hunters You Can’t Shake Off Your Trail. Super props for including The Operative from Serenity.

• Last summer, long before ads began appearing for the upcoming Repo Men, I rented a bizarre, trippy little indie film called Repo: The Genetic Rock Opera, which contained basically the exact same plot as the upcoming big-budget Jude Law flick. Only with music. And Anthony Stewart Head. And … Paris Hilton. Seriously. I can’t exactly recommend the film, because it wasn’t really to my taste, but for those adventurous film buffs out there, here’s the trailer:

• This is old news, but I suppose it must be said: Avatar is a massive hit, and its prospects are growing better by the hour. Even more interesting to me, surveys find that every single demographic gives the movie an “A”!

• Speaking of which, Stephen Spielberg liked Avatar a lot, saying it’s as revolutionary as Star Wars.

• The first issue of the returning Realms of Fantasy magazine is available for free download.

• The X-Men: First Class project means that the Magneto: Origins movie is now off the table — the Xavier/Magneto origin will now be part of the former film.

• A (dubiously sourced) rumor says that Taylor Swift will play Supergirl.

• 28 Star Wars mashups. Good Lord, some people have way too much time on their hands!

• Hasbro, which owns Wizards of the Coast (which makes Dungeons & Dragons) is suing Atari, which owns some digital rights to the game and recently sold them. Can I be honest? I didn’t even know Atari still existed.

• Tobey Maguire as Bilbo was a rumor with no basis in fact. Really? People on the internet are just making shit up? Who knew?!

• The decade’s most “profitable” actress was … Harry Potter’s Emma Watson. Which just kinda proves how stupid these kinds of surveys are.

• A great blog with all the news about HBO’s upcoming A Game of Thrones.

• A new website does for sci-fi/fantasy books what RottenTomatoes and Metacritic do for movies: it compiles and composites all reviews for particular books. Helpful!

• Liza Minnelli is not a fan of The Wizard of Oz – but only because she has a hard time watching what they do to her mother.

• Oh, and Happy Holidays!

Looking to buy any of the projects mentioned in this article (or any other media)? Support TheTorchOnline.com by purchasing it through this link.

Have a question about something fantasy-related? Ask the Oracle! (Be sure to include your first name and the city, state, and/or country you are writing from.)

Q: So there’s a new X-Men movie coming. What’s the story? — Eddy, Seattle, WA

A: Here’s what the director, Bryan Singer, recently told Variety:

This is the formative years of Xavier and Magneto, and the formation of the school and where [their] relationship took a wrong turn. There is a romantic element, and some of the mutants from X-Men will figure into the plot, though I don’t want to say which ones. There will be a lot of new mutants and a great villain.

The Oracle agrees that if there was ever a franchise in need of a Star Trek-like reboot, this is it.

Q: Okay, so I’ve watched just about every episode of Xena: Warrior Princess, but I still don’t see it: how is Xena a “princess”? Her mother is the owner of a hotel, and her father is a warrior! — Maid Marion, Boise, ID

A: You’re asking the Oracle to revisit an old controversy, but here goes.

You’re right that the question of Xena’s “royalty” was originally unclear — although there’s considerable (and compelling) debate about whether the warrior Atreus is really her father. But even if Xena really is the daughter of a god, that doesn’t make her a “princess” either, does it?

But all was answered in The Debt, a two-part episode in season three (among the show’s best episode’s ever, in the Oracle’s considered opinion). In China (in a flashback), Evil Xena falls under the influence of Lao Ma, the wife of the ailing Chinese emperor (and also the acting emperor). Lao Ma becomes Xena’s mentor, eventually declaring her the kingdom’s “warrior princess” — to be a force for great good in the world.

Alas, Lao Ma is soon thwarted by her evil son Ming T’ien, and Xena falls back into her evil ways. But once she later recommits herself to the cause of good, she metaphorically reclaims the title of “warrior princess,” acting out the role that she was unable to fulfill while Lao Ma was still alive.

Q: I’m all for movie producers beefing up female roles in male-oriented classics, but there was no woman who ever bested Sherlock Holmes as in the new movie, was there? Did they invent the character of Irene out of thin air (just modern adaptations of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea always seem to invent a “daughter” for Captain Nemo?) — Marcy, Taos, NM

A: Actually, they didn’t invent Irene Adler. She’s taken from the Arthur Conan Doyle Sherlock Holmes short story, “A Scandal in Bohemia,” and she is, in fact, the only women to have bested Holmes (and one of only four people total to have done so!).

In the story, Holmes is asked by a king to retrieve a compromising photograph of the monarch with Adler. He ascertains the location of the photo, but when he goes to get it, she has already taken it, leaving a letter promising that she won’t spill the beans — providing the king harasses her no more.

Anyway, Irene is American, she is beautiful, and it’s not a crazy stretch to imagine that Holmes might be in love with her, as he is in the movie. Indeed, her refers to her at least four other times out of the fifty-six short stories (and four novels) in which Holmes appears.

Watson, the narrator of the stories, refers to her as the “late” Irene Adler at one point, implying she’s dead by the time the story is published — although scholars say it’s possible he’s simply referring to the fact that she is then married, and her name is no longer “Adler.”

Q: What’s this about the Clash of the Titans remake being reshot for 3-D? — Myron, Somewhere Over the Rainbow

A: Well, additional scenes are definitely being shot next month — which is unusual (and doesn’t bode well, in the Oracle’s opinion), given the movie is scheduled to be released on March 26th.

Turning the movie into 3-D has definitely been discussed (which speaks to how 3-D is fast becoming the trend of the year — and how the industry perceives it as adding to a movie’s gross).

But given the fast turnaround, the Oracle thinks it unlikely in this case.

Looking to buy something mentioned in this column (or any other media)? Support TheTorchOnline.com by purchasing it through this link.

Have a question about something fantasy-related? Ask the Oracle! (Be sure to include your first name and the city, state, and/or country you are writing from.)

One of the best ways to cement a character as otherworldly or ethereal is to give their skin (or fur) a brilliant hue that’s unlikely to exist in nature. After all, who can forget how the Wicked Witch of the West burned her way into our collective conscious, due in a large part to her conspicuously verdant epidermis? Or how Tim Curry’s character Darkness threatened Tom Cruise and Mia Sara in Legend, wielding ebony horns and a fire-engine red complexion?

In honor of the upcoming Avatar, which showcases some pretty spectacular CGI blue feline aliens, here’s a little list of some of our favorite characters of a sapphire persuasion.

Interestingly, our mutant friends in the X-Men give us not one, not two, not three, but four bluesy folks.

Mystique

Beast

Nightcrawler

Archangel

Who can forget the brazenly nude Dr. Manhattan, who goes postal (and atomic) in Watchmen?

Maybe not fantasy in the strictest sense, but anyone whose seen the Blue Man Group know they have a touch of the otherworldly to their shows.

As mentioned before, the Na’vi from Avatar look like an intriguing character design. Let’s hope the story lives up to the effects.

And finally, those adorable Smurfs, led by their villainous leader, Papa Smurf.

You can’t swing a dead mutant around these days without hitting a movie theater playing a Marvel comic film. An overwhelming amount of films based on the X-Men and Avengers books are on their way, and that’s just the tip of the Bobby Drake-created iceberg.

With the original Blade film, Marvel proved they could take a lesser known character and turn it into a reasonably profitable film, thus opening the doors for the first X-Men and Spider-Man movies, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Now all their main heroes either already have or very soon will have movies of their own, and the cinematic Marvel universe is becoming almost as overpopulated as its funny book equivalent. But what about the great characters they haven’t tapped yet?

A few that spring to mind:

The Black Cat — Felicia Hardy’s anti-hero alter ego is the prima donna of the Spider-man series, a morally ambiguous and emotionally complex character, and looks damn good in black leather. But the Spider-man films so far have had an unwritten rule that women are only allowed to pout, look tempting, or be kidnapped, thus sadly the Black Cat has been absent from the silver screen.

She would make a great addition to the series: beyond the fact that she would be a nice foil for Mary Jane, she is practically Spider-man’s physical equal, and could provide some nice rooftop sexual tension the likes of which we haven’t seen since Batman Returns.

Of course, I’m not suggesting hastily adding her to one of the future films just for the sake of having her there - remember what happened to Venom.

Apocalypse – Really? ALL those X-Men films on the horizon and no whispers yet of the biggest baddie of them all? Apocalypse has been making life hell for the X-men, and in fact, much of the world, since the days of Ancient Egypt, and isn’t looking to slow down any time soon.

We only got a small dose of Warren Worthington 111, aka Angel, in X-Men 3, but that character’s storyline with Apocalypse is unforgettable. Born rich, smooth, blond, and handsome (if angel wings are your thing), Warren was a fun-loving playboy until a devastating battle in which he lost his wings. After this, Apocalypse transformed him into an evil follower, turning his skin blue and giving him razor-sharp metal wings. Though he eventually turned good again, Warrne was never the same. And that’s just a taste of the nastiness Apocalypse gets up to.

Northstar – I’m just going to put this out there: it’s time for a gay super-hero on screen. I’m sure studios are iffy about the idea, worrisome that it may be too risky a venture, but the world is ready. While the Marvel universe has a small handful of LGBT characters, none is more well-known than Northstar, the first Marvel superhero to come out of the closet, and in 1992, no less.

Northstar has a very cinematic appeal: handsome, edgy, and the movie-friendly powers of super-speed and flight. Hopefully in one of the estimated 26,985 X-men films coming out in the next few years, Northstar just may pop up. Fingers crossed.

Moonstar – While we’re on the topic of inclusion, a demographic that’s widely overlooked on the big screen is Native Americans (and it currently seems that their only filmic representation is as werewolves in the Twilight series). Marvel has always been ahead of its time in its inclusion of minorities, and one of these examples is the New Mutants’ Danielle Moonstar, who could communicate telepathically with animals as well as project bursts of psionic energy.

There is some chatter about a New Mutants film some day, and let’s hope that Moonstar is part of the action.

These are only a few examples of currently-overlooked characters. We all have characters we’d like to see. Feel free to share some of your own.

Back for more sauciness after last week’s Sexiest Women article, we now present those dudes of fantasy that burned their way into our collective memory.

Same rules as last time: we’re rating characters who have been made flesh by an actor on either the big or small screen. Animated or literary characters will have to wait patiently for their own list.

And away we go!

7. Will Turner

I know, I know, what about Captain Jack? Sure, Johnny Depp’s Keith Richards-inspired pirate captain is a work of comic genius, and Johnny Depp himself is one sexy dude, but is Jack Sparrow really someone you would want to … you know? Meanwhile, dashing and daring Will Turner, as portrayed by genre fave Orlando Bloom, stands smoldering and hot just a few feet outside the spotlight. Let’s show this kid some love.

6. Conor

In the role that first introduced him to American audiences (though precious few actually remember it), Heath Ledger played Conor on the short-lived fantasy series Roar. The show, which took place in 4th-century Ireland, featured Ledger as the young leader of a ragtag rebellion determined to fight off the encroaching Roman occupation. Though the show suffered from uneven writing and production values, the young, sexy Ledger kept it anchored right up to its all-too-soon series finale. This also comes as a painful reminder of the many great performances we could have seen from Ledger had his life not ended so tragically early.

5. Jin

After the success of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, wuxia (Chinese martial arts fantasy) films became popular with American audiences. Zhang Yimou quickly rose to the top by creating such beautiful works as Hero and House of Flying Daggers. Though the gorgeous Zhang Ziyi gets most of the attention, many people found an extra special bonus in Takeshi Kaneshiro’s character Jin, who proved to be as deadly with his kung fu skills as he is easy on the eyes.

4. Richard Cypher

Yeah, you’re not even reading this, are you? You’re just looking at the picture. It’s cool. I get it.

3. That dude who said “Then we will fight in the shade.”

The reaction to 300 is split, to say the least. Personally, I’m not a huge fan. But that dude who said we will fight in the shade had it seriously goin’ on.

2. Aragorn

As if you could make a list of the sexiest guys in fantasy and not include a character who makes his audience swoon with practically every line. (Even when he picked up that weird Irish accent for two seconds in Return of the King — “May the LARD of the Black Gates come FARTH!” Seriously, what happened there, Viggo?)

And here we go, the moment we’ve all been waiting for…

The Number One Sexiest Male Character in Fantasy Ever of All Time is…

1. Gimli

Do I even have to explain it? From the moment he showed up in Elrond’s Homely House, we all fell in love.

Okay, just kidding.

Here ya go.

1. Wolverine

Nine years ago, Aussie actor Hugh Jackman did what was thought impossible — he brought a fairly accurate portrayal of comic book character Wolverine to life. Four movies later, we’re still hungry for more…provided there are more scientific experiments done naked, of course.

Honorable mention:

I don’t know if the cheese stands alone on this one, because all I ever heard from my fellow Buffy fans was the fight for supreme hotness between Spike and Angel. A small minority spoke up proclaiming it was the adorkable Xander who deserved the title of sexiest Buffy dude. But I always thought the answer was simple:

How can you ignore the innate sexiness of a 5′4″ guitar-playing laconic too-cool-for-school werewolf rock star? I’m pretty sure his character was meant to express one of those famous Whedon metaphors, that even the gentlest-looking guy has a beast inside him, but the message got lost once the full moon hit and — oops — he morphed into a wolf, thus shredding his clothes, only to wake up in the morning in some field and show off everything his mama gave him. Plus he has awesome hair. So how excited are we that Oz has now (finally!) resurfaced in the Buffy comics?

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Franchises, like Goonies, never say die, and Marvel is a company built on franchises. Now with their own film company, Marvel is bringing the complexity of their comic book universe to the silver screen. Here’s a look at some of their upcoming projects.

X-Men

Arguably Marvel’s most popular title (and the flagship of an infinite number of X-book spin-offs), the X-Men have appeared thus far in three movies, and Wolverine just had his first solo outing. What’s next? There are a few possibilities:

X-Men: First Class - A film focusing on the younger members of the X-Men clan, namely Iceman, Rogue, Kitty Pryde, Angel, and Jubilee, as well as others, who get up to their own wacky high school adventures without Storm and Wolverine, two of the few surviving adults from the X-Men trilogy. The verdict? A possibility, but Shawn Ashmore and Anna Paquin are a little long in the tooth to play high school students, which may mean…

X-Men 4 - The long-rumored fourth entry into the main X-Men franchise may just be another version of First Class, since many of the first few films’ stars are not contractually obligated to appear, which means they can hold out for more money. But why pay the big bucks when you can just use other, younger, less expensive actors (like Paquin and Ashmore)?

Wolverine 2 - This is almost a sure thing, as talk of a sequel began even before the first Wolvy film opened, and despite being a critical flop, the film did okay in the numbers. Expect it to cover the samurai era of Logan’s past.

Deadpool - Ryan Reynolds is a hot ticket these days, and rumor is he’s been longing for a hero franchise of his own ever since playing second fiddle to Wesley Snipes in Blade: Trinity. But now that he’s scored the part of Green Lantern in the upcoming film, will two superhero franchises feel like overkill?

X-Men Origins: Magneto - Though it’s been in “development” for a long time now, not much progress has been made on this one. It’s not an easy task to design a prequel film focusing on a villain, so whether it will ever see the light of day is anyone’s guess.

Blade

Speaking of prequels about villains being a bad idea…

Untitled Blade Prequels - As if one film weren’t bad enough, actor Stephen Dorff, who played villain Deacon Frost in the first film, had this to say about an upcoming project:

“It will be a prequel to the ‘Blade’ movies, Deacon’s story. It’s a new trilogy the director [Stephen Norrington] has created. It will [be] cool.”

You read that correctly - not just one film, but a trilogy.

Avengers

The extraordinarily well-received Iron Man was the first step towards a filmic tapestry leading up to The Avengers, as displayed by the final scene in which Tony Stark is approached by Nick Fury to speak with him about “the Avengers initiative,” and then Tony Stark’s cameo in The Incredible Hulk where he mentions a “team.” This sort of cross-pollination is enough to make even casual readers geek out, so here’s a look at what’s to come.

Iron Man 2 - Duh.

The First Avenger: Captain America - Though it has an unnecessary prefix, the Captain America movie was the first and most obvious choice when building a slew of films gearing up towards the Avengers. Shooting is set to begin next summer.

Thor - Shakespearean actor/director Kenneth Branagh is helming the epic fantasy about the mythical Norse god Odin. Super props to Marvel for not shying away from this utterly magical piece of the Avengers puzzle in the wake of the Dark Knight-inspired love for grittier, realistic superhero flicks.

And, of course:

The Avengers - The current expected premier date of The Avengers is May of 2012, which means they have to work fast with the other films if they want to make that goal.

Spider-Man

Oh, yeah, they’re making Spider-Man 4. And 5 and 6. These could really go either way. I’m hoping they’re like the first 2 and not the unwatchable Spider-Man 3.