Tong
Gender: Transgender Girl
Publisher: Marvel
Character Type: Secondary
Alignment: Good
Summary: Tong, a transgender girl who is a member of the Fantastic Four's Future Foundation, is a young member of a highly evolved species known as 'the Moloids.' In a charming, understated scene in FF #6, Tong announces to her siblings that she identifies as a girl. "I have a girl inside me," she says to her siblings. "I tried to be a boy like you, but there is no boy here, and I do not wish to be a boy any longer." Her brothers gather around her, embracing her in a group hug of unconditional love and support.
Database Links: Marvel Wiki, Gay League
Important Issues: Tong announces her identity as a transgender girl in FF #6. The initials in the title of this book stand for "Future Foundation" -- a group affiliated with the Fantastic Four.
While struggling to figure out how to defeat Dr. Doom, save the world, etc., Tong discovers that she is, in fact, a girl. After donning a dress, she makes this announcement to her ‘brother’s’ (explanation for scare quotes below), and throughout the rest of the series she is identified as female. (Read more)
Roy Cook, "Is Tong Transgender?" The Hooded Utilitarian, May 2014.
This event wasn’t hyped by Marvel. It simply appeared, waiting for readers to experience it, as if a relative or friend might be telling them without any advance notice. Take into consideration that these four siblings had been deliberately osctracized and imprisoned for their differences (and others like them had died from similar treatment or outright killed) and how they bonded after being rescued. Fraction’s writing here is very subtle though the message of love for and acceptance of trans individuals, and the importance of familial bonds for them resonates. (Read more)
Joe Palmer, "Tong," The Gay League, September 5, 2017.