Zangief in Street Fighter II

zangief-ssf2t-end

Zangief Image credit http://forums.shoryuken.com/discussion/195551/why-no-love-for-the-sfi-cast-the-ones-that-started-it-all/p2

Zangief first appeared in 1991’s Street Fighter II: The World Warrior. He is a proud Russian, often portrayed as fighting for his country. He is often interpreted as a potentially gay character (see here, here, and here). While we can’t find any definitive confirmation, several comment sections (like this one) have users suggesting that Capcom confirmed his sexuality at some point in time, but no links are provided.

LGBTQ  references in this game series:

Street Fighter (1987):  Eagle

Street Fighter II (1991): The World Warrior: Zangief

Street Fighter IV (2008): Poison (originally from Final Fight); Abel; Juri Han

Citations:

  1. Fruit Brute. (2006, July 14). Top 20 Gayest Video Game Characters- #13. GayGamer.Net. http://gaygamer.net/2006/07/top_20_gayest_video_game_chara_8.html
  2. LGBT themes in video games. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_themes_in_video_games
  3. Fruit Brute. (2006, October 3). Street Fighter: The Later Years. GayGamer.Net. http://gaygamer.net/2006/10/street_fighter_the_later_years.html
  4. Why did people think zangief was gay? (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/999533-street-fighter-x-tekken/60697954
  5. Why No Love for the SFI Cast – THE Ones That Started It All? (n.d.). Retrieved from http://forums.shoryuken.com/discussion/195551/why-no-love-for-the-sfi-cast-the-ones-that-started-it-all/p2
  6. Zangief. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://streetfighter.wikia.com/wiki/Zangief