Publisher DC Comics Team affiliations Teen Titans Affiliation Teen Titans | Alter ego Miguel Jose Barragan Abilities Energy constructs | |
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Created by Scott Lobdell (writer)
Brett Booth (artist) First appearance Teen Titans vol. 4, #1 (November 2011) Creators Brett Booth, Scott Lobdell Similar Solstice, Wonder Girl, Tanya Spears, Mal Duncan, Danny the Street | ||
Bunker is a fictional gay comic book superhero of Mexican descent, published by DC Comics. He first appeared in Teen Titans vol. 4, #1 (November 2011), and was created by Scott Lobdell and Brett Booth.
Contents
Booth said on his blog:
We wanted to show an interesting character whose homosexuality is part of him, not something that’s hidden. Sure there are gay people who you wouldn’t know are gay right off the bat, but there are others who are a more flamboyant, and we thought it would be nice to actually see them portrayed in comics. Did we go over the top, I don’t think so.
Fictional character biography
Bunker first appeared as a member of the Teen Titans in Teen Titans vol. 4, #1, as part of the DC Comics relaunch, The New 52.
Raised in the small Mexican village called 'El Chilar', Miguel Jose Barragan had grown up in a loving and supportive community, and found acceptance as an openly gay teenager. When Miguel manifested the meta-human ability to create psionic energy constructs, the extroverted idealist sought out Red Robin in an attempt to become a full-fledged superhero.
Miguel – who adopts the code-name “Bunker” – then becomes a target of N.O.W.H.E.R.E., a mysterious organization abducting super-powered youths for their own nefarious purposes. Red Robin makes contact with Bunker, and soon organizes a group of targeted teenagers into a meta-human resistance force known as the 'Teen Titans'. Together, they are able to liberate the living weapon known as Superboy and dismantle N.O.W.H.E.R.E.’s secret complex in the Antarctic.
In July 2012, Lobdell announced that he was going to reveal Bunker's boyfriend, "who will be heading to the US from Mexico after coming out of a coma and learning that his boyfriend had run off to become a superhero".
In issue #23, Bunker leaves the team for a short while. The Teen Titans series then concluded, with #30 along with an annual in April 2014. It was then announced that the series would be relaunched in July 2014 with a new issue 1, written by Will Pfeifer and art by Kenneth Rocafort.
In the annual, during an epilogue, Bunker is shown being funded by the Green Team to create the 'Spectacular Internationale'.
Powers and abilities
Bunker has the ability to create energy constructs with his mind, often creating brick-like walls and pummeling fists. His constructs manifest as purple bricks. He has full control over their density, being able to make them soft to cushion impacts or falls, or hard as rock to inflict damage. He can create a wide variety of shapes including pillars, shields, body armor, platforms to levitate himself and others, etc. He has also been shown launching his bricks as projectiles.
Arsenal in Red Hood and the Outlaws (Vol 1 #16) said "This Bunker reminds me of me in a way. He acts like he doesn't take any of it too seriously. But a wall like that doesn't come out of thin air. He's got more going on than anyone gives him credit for. You watch-- he'll be in the Justice League before he's twenty."
In other media
Bunker appears in DC Super Hero Girls, as one of the background students at Super Hero High.
Merchandising
In 2013, a HeroClix figure of Bunker was produced as part of the Teen Titans set.