Karolina and Nico kiss on Runaways (marvel)

Marvel is developing a TV show starring an all-female team of superheroes—and it could introduce a host of amazing queer characters to the small screen.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) currently contains precisely zero queer superheroes, but Marvel has been more progressive in its TV offerings.

Runaways features two queer superheroes in the shape of Karolina Dean and Nico Minoru, two of the main characters who slowly realise their sexuality while also figuring out their powers.

And these teenage heroes are two of at least nine LGBT+ characters who might be about to make the leap from Marvel’s comic books to TV.

According to Deadline, Wonder Woman writer Allan Heinberg is working with Marvel and ABC to create a series of hour-long episodes focusing on more obscure heroes, potentially including those in A-Force, Fearless Defenders and Lady Liberators.

As well as Karolina and Nico, these comics include bisexual Thor: Ragnarok warrior Valkyrie and Dr Annabelle Riggs, who kiss in the same issue in which Valkyrie saves Annabelle’s life.

A scene making Valkyrie’s sexuality explicit was cut from the cinematic and DVD release of Thor: Ragnarok.

America Chavez, a queer Latina teenager with lesbian parents, who does her hero work as Miss America and got her own comic book last year, is also reportedly up for inclusion in the show.

The comics series also feature Mariko Yashida, an openly gay superhero who, in one reality, has a relationship with Mary Jane Watson’s Spider-Woman, and the openly bisexual Moondragon, who has been canonically attracted to female characters Cloud, Marlo Chandler, and Phyla-Vell.

Psylocke, who is bisexual in the comics, and played by Olivia Munn in X-Men: Apocalypse and the upcoming Dark Phoenix, could also star in the show. She has had a relationship with X-Men member Fantomex’s female counterpart Cluster.

Another possible queer inclusion is Angela, an A-Force member and lost sister of Thor who engages in a relationship with a transgender woman—and angel—called Sera.

The step helps Marvel to gain at least some ground on its rival, DC, in terms of LGBT+ representation.

It was revealed earlier this year that DC is making Birds of Prey, a spin-off of Academy Award-winning film Suicide Squad which will see Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn assemble an all-female group of heroes including lesbian detective Renee Montoya.

And DC’s announcement in August that Ruby Rose would play a lesbian, Jewish Batwoman in an upcoming programme was the latest example of queer representation from the company.

In 2016, Supergirl‘s Alex Danvers came out as gay in a widely praised storyline which eventually saw her get together with police detective Maggie Sawyer.

Supergirl is also set to introduce its first ever transgender character, Nia Nal, later this year when it returns for the show’s fourth season.

Black Lightning features Anissa Pierce, a black lesbian medical student, teacher and—as it turns out—superhero by the name of Thunder.

If you’ve been watching Legends of Tomorrow, you will have also cheered at Sara Lance and Ava Sharpe kissing earlier this year to make their romance canon.