First African-American Gay Superhero Joins Arrow

The sci-fi/fantasy television genre has always been with the times and sometimes ahead of them, when it comes to LGBT inclusion. Buffy the Vampire Slayer was very gay-friendly, and since then it's only been getting better.

Now, with comic book adaptations cementing their place in that intriguing corner of television, they're making sure they keep with the traditions and the times.

Arrow, the popular CW series that follows DC's Green Arrow, has cast Echo Kellum as Mr. Terrific and announced the show's version of the superhero will be gay, Variety confirms.

In the 1997 comic book version, Mr. Terrific, also known as Michael Holt, was a wealthy Olympic decathlete who started fighting crime after the death of his wife and unborn child.

On Arrow, the character is named Curtis Holt, a tech-savvy inventor who works at Palmer Technologies with Emily Bett Rickards's character, Felicity Smoak, who is Oliver Queen's (Green Arrow) love interest. Executive producer Greg Berlanti told Out magazine last year that he plans to continue to explore new ways of introducing gay characters to this series and The Flash, which has also featured gay heroes and villains, such as David Singh (Patrick Sabongui) and the Pied Piper (Andy Mientus).

The new season of Arrow premieres October 6 on the CW.

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