Captain Astro

Captain Astro is the name of a comic book superhero in a fictional comic book of the same name within the television series Queer as Folk (also known as QAF), which ran on the cable channel Showtime from December 2000-August 2005.

Captain Astro was the boyhood hero of character Michael Novotny (played by Hal Sparks), in part because of what Michael perceived as a gay subtext in the comic. Michael remained a huge fan as an adult and bought a comic book store in Season 2 of QAF.

Michael's attachment to Captain Astro recurs in references throughout the QAF series. Michael's commentaries on Captain Astro often parallel real-world perceived or explicit gay themes in a number of comic books. In Episode 210 of QAF, Captain Astro's character is killed when his nemesis Morphisto infects him with an incurable virus. The episode briefly explores the resonances between Captain Astro's death and a developing plotline regarding the HIV-positive status of Michael's new boyfriend Ben.

Michael and another character, the budding artist Justin Taylor (Randy Harrison), are later inspired to create an openly gay superhero named Rage (not to be confused with the African-American superhero of the same name who has appeared in the Marvel Comics series The Avengers.)