Tonight: "Heroes" returns to NBC

Nathan and Peter Petrelli, main characters of Heroes, are brothers. But are they secretly more?

What's with gays and superheroes? Though I never read comics very much when I was little, I was fanatically devoted to the X-Men cartoon. Between when I grew out of such interests and about 4 months ago, I chalked this devotion up to a desire inherent in all 9 year-old boys to fly, shoot lasers from their hands and wear tight spandex singlets. (OK, maybe this desire was not inherent in all 9 year-old boys...) There was an undeniable element of escapism too. Growing up as an extremely dorky child, it was nice to think that if I did possess such abilities they would be a great way to show up all the popular assholes who were mean to me. (Popular asshole: "Hey, you're funny looking. Me: SONIC BOOM!")

But Heroes, NBC's superhero show, returns from hiatus tonight at and I'm just as excited as a 9 year-old. (And I know I mentioned this in my upper. If you've never repeated yourself you may throw the first stone.) I think there's a disproportionate number of gay comic book geeks out there. "Heroes" alone had one character that was about to come out before the producers became flaming cowards, a series of guest appearances from gay Star Trek star George Takei, and a highly questionable relationship between two brothers who may have read The Cement Garden one too many times. (see the video above.)

It's actually pretty obvious why the homos love the heroes so much. You have a group of people whose genetic makeup makes them outcasts from greater society, but who actually have extraordinary gifts and abilities that benefit the folks who shun them. Anyone who has been called a fag by someone in a Versace shirt should be familiar with this principle.

So these heroes usually band together in one or another family unit or underground society and take solace in being around others who are like them. Not to mention the obligatory "Why did I have to be born like this?" "You have no choice, now deal with it" dialogue that goes on in any situation where someone comes to terms with their powers.

X2 probably has the best example of this, in a scene where Iceman has to "come out" to his parents as a mutant and weathers some familiar questions, like "How long did you know? and "Maybe it's just a phase?" This clip is not on YouTube, but gay director Brian Singer can be thanked for its inclusion.

Where am I going with all this? I'm saying you should watch "Heroes" tonight if you're free. Yes, there are all the relevances that I brought up above. But really, there's a lot of hot men and women on that show running around in various states of undress. All the ladies out there can fight over who gets to kiss Nikki or Maya. Me, I'll just be dreaming a little dream of Sylar.