373:"Frankly, with the SMALL amount of gay characters in comics in general, and how unfortunate the portrayals have been thus far, whether intentional or not—I completely understand the backlash on the death of Freedom Ring, regardless of my intentions. If I had it to do all over again... I wouldn't kill him. I regret it more and more as time goes on. I got rid of what? 20% of the gay characters at Marvel by killing off this ONE character. I just never took that stuff into consideration while I was writing".
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characters... are all about being gay. Straight characters are well-rounded characters who like chicks. So I wanted to do a well-rounded character who just happened to like dudes. Then I decided to combine the two ideas. In hindsight, yeah, killing a gay character is no good when there are so few of them... but I really had only the best of intentions in mind".
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Kirkman defended his writing decision as having "nothing but good intentions", highlighting his original concept of "an inexperienced hero who would get beaten up constantly and probably die", claiming that
Freedom Ring's sexuality was merely an attempt to simultaneously write a well-rounded ordinary
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Kirkman intended
Freedom Ring to be an example of a superhero who demonstrated inexperience with his superpowers, as he felt that most superheroes quickly adjusting to their powers and having a successful superhero career did not reflect reality. When asked by a fan about the number of visibly gay
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Freedom Ring was always planned as an inexperienced hero who would get beaten up constantly and probably die. I wanted to comment on the fact that most superheroes get their powers and are okay at it... and that's not how life works. During working on the book, I was also noticing that most gay
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Curtis is unsure, given what happened with the
Abomination, but the Crusader convinces Curtis that he can do it, because if he fixed his legs, he can make himself stronger and faster, and less reliant on conjuring up the right item. Curtis agrees, making himself stronger, and practices with the
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vol. 3 #20 as part of the five-issue "Freedom Ring" storyline. The character adopts the
Freedom Ring superhero persona in the next issue. The character is featured in the storyline until issue #24, when he is killed in battle. The series was canceled by issue #25.
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out of thin air, he discovers that the ring gives him the ability to alter reality. He runs away terrified, but when he returns, he finds that the sundae has disappeared without a trace. He calls Troy, and later, they have a long night of super-power practice.
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vol. 3 #20 (July 2006), becoming
Freedom Ring in the next issue. He appeared across the series' storyline "Freedom Ring" for five issues. The character is depicted as a normal civilian who comes across a ring that grants him the ability to alter reality.
295:, Curtis reveals the source of his power. Though he is able to immobilize the villain, Curtis does not expect Iron Maniac's armor to expand outwards. When it does, his ring finger is sliced off and his body is pierced by the armor multiple times.
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Captain
America is able to defeat Iron Maniac, but it is too late to save Curtis, who is dead. Captain America notes that they didn't even know him and yet he saved them all by buying them time to recover.
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Curtis recovers, but is told he will never walk again. Troy helps him return home, and Curtis uses the ring to restore his legs. Going after Troy, who just left, he finds that his neighbor is an undercover
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The ring is eventually found by a young man, Curtis Doyle, whose friend Troy calls it a "free, dumb ring". This comment gives Curtis the idea for his superhero name. When he accidentally creates an
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male character who happened to be gay. Later, Kirkman admitted that he regretted killing
Freedom Ring due to the relatively limited number of gay characters in mainstream comics.
267:. Losing track of them, the Skrull turns his spy equipment toward his neighbors. He knows everything about Curtis, and having decided to become a superhero himself (dubbed the
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which allows the wearer to alter reality within a radius of roughly 15 feet (4.6m) around him, giving him a 30-foot (9.1 m) sphere of reality he can alter.
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Curtis Doyle originally had no inherent super-powers on his own. However, the character comes into possession of a ring crafted from a fragment of a destroyed
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hero. However, in the next issue, the character was killed, leading to controversy and accusations of homophobia from some comic book reviewers.
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After his first attempt as
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Curtis's death was met with some negative reactions, including accusations of homophobia from gay comic book sites
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ombat) Squad to fight Cap for an unknown reason and
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The ring is then acquired by
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The next day while Curtis is on a date with Jeffrey, a waiter from a diner that he frequented, the
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comic book superheroes, Editor-in-Chief of Marvel Comics,
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Curtis Doyle in his civilian identity. Art by Andy Kuhn.
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Robert Kirkman commented on the controversy, stating
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188:After the
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620:2011
349:and
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597:#20
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210:M
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