It turned out all along that the way to stop Kang the Conquerer was to hatch the egg that is Iron Lad

Look, I know one of my most recognizable online brands is “haha I took an out of context panel and now this character is trans” and all, but if “Ragnarok Valkyrie frees Nate by cracking their egg-like cage” ISN’T foreshadowing...

"but Joffe, what's possible trans about a twinkish tech-based teen hero who is so deathly afraid of their ordained future that they are willing to threaten reality to avoid becoming a man and- ooooooh"

Marvel hire me to write IronHRT

Ok, wait, so now Nate also only “comes out” when queer girls rub him? You think I don’t notice this pattern, Eisner-winning writer Saladin Ahmed?

This all started out as a bit, but each month is bringing me closer to launching a deranged fanzine and we all just need to be prepared for it.

(ok, she's not, but what if this comic's version of Becky is a time-and-space-displaced, post-hrt Nate?)

Hmmm, not a LOT to work with in this new issue that is as obvious as “valkyrie will smash his egg and pink-mutant-janelle-monae sets him free” but I can still run with this.

First of all, that in the corner is the face of a kid who JUST realized that magic can do anything, “even...y’know... just for fun I mean... but what if...”

Second? This is 100% egg talk. This smells eggier than béarnaise sauce served in a sulfer mine.

Third? I dunno, i just think this exchange is cute. Anyways, Nate continues to be a closet girl. I’ve claimed her. Long live IronHRT.

Also this is definitely not what is actually gonna happen, but I’m just noting my most ridiculous theory again anyway because if it somehow turns out that Becky IS a time-and-space-displaced post-transition Nate I’m gonna look like a god damn GENIUS

In THIS month’s Exiles, the team fights their attempted replacements, which are all gender swapped versions of their archetype and, hey, look who Iron “Lad” is fighting...

All of my trans comic headcanons are, of course, 100% objectively true but its been wild watching this one become the MOST 100% objectively true and canon each month.

Ok, I said it probably wasn’t gonna happen, but the series is getting cancelled (boo) and the last issue’s cover features Iron “Lad” being buried alive happily while Becky is lifted up by the woman who promised to “crack” the “egg” where “he” was “imprisoned” and...

If next month Saladin drops the facade and makes this subtext into text for the finale, I think we can agree that you all owe me a drink. Or a trophy.

BOOOO

Good news everyone, these panels all lead to the series’ natural and correct conclusion of Nate transitioning and not to her being mind-and-time-wiped into thinking she’s cis and locked into a future of being a villain.

(Don’t worry, we know what REALLY happened to her in the end...)