Phat

Phat

Character Overview

Gender: Male

Orientation: Gay

Publisher: Marvel

Character Type: Primary

Alignment: Good

AKA: William Robert "Billy-Bob" Reilly

Character Details

Summary: Phat is a notable member of the celebrity team of the X-Force. He came from a background as a gangster before realizing that he was a mutant and turning into a superhero. Phat entered into a fake relationship with fellow X-Force member, Vivisector, during which time the pair realized that they were both actually gay.

Database Links: Marvel Wiki, Comic Vine, Marvel.com

Articles about Phat

[According to Marvel Editor-in-Chief Axel Alonso],  'There are plenty of gay characters in Marvel Comics that fly under the radar. Take Phat and Vivisector, for instance: teammates on the [Peter] Milligan/[Mike] Allred X-Force/X-Statix series that were also lovers. I don’t remember them provoking any controversy and I don’t think Rawhide Kid paved the road for them or any other gay characters; the opportunity was always there. Whenever you create a new character, the details of their interior or private life – stuff like their sexuality – will at some time become relevant.' (Read more)

Will, "X-Men wedding follow-up: More gay mutants in love," Comics Blend, June 2012.

Everything about Phat is great. I love his powers and his entire concept just works so well for this book. He’s a poor street kid, except he’s not. He’s a middle class white kid pretending to be a poor black kid from the hood. That is such a relevant issue in the noughties and it fits so nicely into this book with its themes of identity of pop culture. Plus it just makes his name, Phat, so very, very perfect. (Read more)

Adam Halls, "Mummyboon's longbox: X-Force/X-Statix Part 2 #117-120," Mummyboon, September 21, 2013.

The X-Men have long served as a metaphor for a variety of oppressed groups. As metaphors, the X-Men often traffic in the trappings and culture of oppressed groups, but generally stop short of actually addressing the real-life oppression that inspires the stories. Storm, for example, is hated for being a mutant, but rarely deals with anti-black oppression. In the real world, she'd get it from both barrels. In comics? Just the one. You're a mutant first, and then you're black, gay, or something else entirely fourth or fifth. That always bothered me, like they got to have their cake and eat it, too. They got to triumph over all of the signifiers of oppression, but never actually got to the pain oppression causes.
(Read more)

David Brothers, "Milligan & Allred's X-Force is amazing; So are Air Force 1s," Comics Alliance, March 20, 2013.