First African-American Gay Superhero Joins Arrow Cast

The sci-fi/fantasy television genre has always been with the times, and sometimes ahead of them, when it comes to LGBT inclusion. Buffy the Vampire Slayer was very gay-friendly, and since then it's only been getting better.

Now, with comic book adaptions cementing their place in that intriguing corner of television, they're making sure they keep with the traditions and the times.

Arrow, the popular CW series that follows DC's Green Arrow, has cast Echo Kellum as Mr. Terrific and announced the show's version of the superhero will be gay, Variety confirmed.

In his first appearance in the comics in 1997, Curtis Holt, aka Mr. Terrific, was a wealthy Olympic decathlete, who started fighting crime after the death of his wife and unborn child.

On Arrow, Holt will be a tech-savvy inventor who works at Palmer Technologies with Emily Bett Rickards' character and Oliver (Green Arrow's) love interest, Felicity Smoak. Greg Berlanti told Out last year that he plans to continue to explore new ways of introducing gay characters to this series andThe Flash, which has also featured gay heroes and villains, such as David Singh (Patrick Sabongui) and the Pied Piper (Andy Mientus).

The new season of Arrow premieres October 6 on the CW.