Brazilian Mayor Attempts To Ban Avengers Comic Book That Features A Gay Kiss

Rio De Janeiro’s mayor is attempting to ban Marvel’s Avengers: The Children’s Crusade over its section that features a gay kiss.

Mayor #MarceloCrivella has announced the translated edition of the #Marvel comic book series #Avengers: The Children’s Crusade would be removed from the literary festival Riocentro Bienal do Livro in order to protect children from what he says is “sexual content for minors.”

What Crivella is referring to is a kiss between two male characters, Wiccan and Hulkling, who are in a committed relationship. In the scene, the men are both wearing clothes. Avengers: The Children’s Crusade was published between 2010 and 2012 in the U.S., and the Brazilian edition, Vingadores: A Cruzada Das Crianças, initially appearing in 2012, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Crivella made the announcement on Twitter, in a video where he says, “Books like this need to be wrapped in black sealed plastic with a content warning displayed on the outside.” In ordering the removal of the title, he claims that the city’s authorities are “protecting the minors of our city.” In the text of the tweet itself, he describes the contents of the comic as “content that is unsuitable for minors.”

Rio de Janeiro councilman Alexandre Isquierdo also commented via Instagram, claiming the book was “spread[ing] homosexuality to CHILDREN!”  He called the selling of the book “an absurd crime.”