Kid Cosmic, on Nickelodeon, stars Jack Fisher (left) as "Kid," a comic book-obsessed orphan boy living in a desolate world consisting of his trailer, his Grandpa's junkyard, a retro 1950s diner, and an endless desert.
Suddenly, for reasons, everyone who happens to be in the diner develops superpowers, and is tasked with finding the Rings of Power. Stuck Chuck, a gay-stereotype alien baddie, eventually joins the team.
They're the diner cooks, visible on the right of this character photo.
Fry (voiced by Eric Bauza, below) is a skinny, tattooed Italian guy with super-stretching ability, and Hamburg (voiced by Fred Tatsciore) is a blond German hunk with the ability to exude multiple arm
They are very minor characters. They didn't even get superpowers until Season 2, and even then, they were #10 and #11 in the superhero list, with no lines in most episodes. I saw no gay hints about them in Seasons 1 and 2, but then, I wasn't looking closely: they were mostly background.
So, on to Season 3. I'll check every appearance of Fry and Hamburg, looking for holding hands, hugging, dancing together, a shared apartment, any hint, however minuscule, that they are being presented as a canonical romantic couple.
Back Story: In Season 2, the Galactic Heroes worked at an interplanetary diner as a cover while they tried to track down the missing Rings of Power. When the Rings were all accounted for, they used them to defeat the Planet Destroyer, a planet-sized Big Bad. In the fracas, the Rings were scattered all over Earth.
More after the break
Episode 1: After being celebrated for saving the Earth from destruction, the renamed Global Heroes start tracking down the Rings again. First up: an invisibility stone and a growth stone.
Fry and Hamburg stand next to each other, but do not interact. Only they and the married male-female couple are introduced to the world as a pair, so that might be a clue.
Episode 2: An Egyptian supervillain, a potato kid, and an underwater kingdom. And the Global Heroes discover that this world is not the Earth they know. And Papa G, central character Kid Cosmic's grandpa, has a dark secret.
Fry and Hamburg appear only in a meeting of the superheroes, and do not interact.
Episode 3: The Global Heroes work to escape the fantasy-Earth. Papa G agonizes over whether to tell Kid Cosmic his dark secret.
We see the superheroes sleeping in single beds in a dormitory (except the married male-female couple, who share a bed).
Fry gets up in the middle of the night and tries to take the spatula out of the sleeping Hamburg's hand. I don't know if he's being affectionate or sneaky, or planning to climb into bed with Hamburg. Then they're both zapped away to a superheroes meeting.
Episode 4: Everything the Galactic Heroes thought they had accomplished in Season 2 was a projection. They actually failed to save the galaxy, and are living on a dismal refugee planet. But sthere is a spark of hope that they could still defeat the Planet Destroyer.
Fry and Hamburg are shown in the kitchen, checking out the supplies. Just canned goods. Fry says something stupid, and Hamburg tosses a can at him.
Episode 5: After several battles, they defeat the Planet Destroyer for real and return to the real Earth.
When they are surprised, Fry clutches at Hamburg's arm.
Episode 6: They mourn those people and civilizatiions destroyed by the Planet Destroyer. Then, their superpowers gone, they return to their ordinary lives. But at least they manage to communicate with the outside universe and invite all the beings they've helped during their adventures to come to the diner. So it's back to the interplanetary diner, which is where they were happiest after all.
At the memorial service, Fry and Hamburg step up to say their eulogy together, but so do several characters not involved in a relationship. They interact briefly while preparing the diner for the alien customers.
Among the former allies and enemies who appear at the diner is Boss Fiosa, a two-headed crime mistress. When she approaches, Hamburg hugs Fry, as if to protect him, or to deflect a flirtation: "We're together. Back off."
They are talking to each other at the party later. And that's it.
That's it?
Come on, if you want to establish them as a couple, they have got to kiss. Or at least hold hands! Craig and Eric did that on Drake and Josh back in 2007!
And Irwin and Nergal slow-danced on The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy.
I suppose McCracken thinks he is being progressive by identifying two guys as canonically gay, even though there's no indication in the show itself, like Dumbledore being gay in the Harry Potter universe, but never identified in the books or movies. But Adam actually used the word "gay" in The Hollow in 2019, and there were preteen boyfriends on Craig of the Creek in 2022.
And don't forget The Bravest Knight, Big City Greens, Steven Universe, Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts, Ducktales, Sesame Street....
See also: Kid Cosmic Season 2: Is Stuck Chuck Gay?
The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy: Nergal and Irwin, gay couple
"Craig of the Creek": Silver Fist gets a sidekick, and the gay kid gets a boyfriend
