Is one of the world's most iconic superheroes really a gay man?

Action Comics writer Grant Morrison, who is best known for revamping DC Comics' family of Batman titles, spoke at length about comic superheroes in an interview with Playboy magazine, confirming maybe those Batman and Robin rumors aren't so far-fetched after all, because the title character is "very, very gay."

"He’s very plutonian in the sense that he’s wealthy and also in the sense that he’s sexually deviant," Morrison told the magazine. "Gayness is built into Batman. I’m not using gay in the pejorative sense, but Batman is very, very gay. There’s just no denying it. Obviously as a fictional character he’s intended to be heterosexual, but the basis of the whole concept is utterly gay."

In fact, Morrison adds, Batman's "gayness" is actually part of the character's near-universal appeal: "I think...