In the original stories, Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes shows no interest in women and a lot of interest in his "roommate," Dr. Watson. But most film and tv versions aggressively heterosexualize the guys, sometimes with queerbaiting first. So I had no faith in the new Amazon Prime series Young Sherlock Holmes.
With good reason: he meets the Girl of His Dreams almost instantly. Plus the reviews say that he's nothing like the traditional Sherlock; he's a gormless, idiotic, girl-chasing rapscallion.
Left: The rapscallion's rear.
But there was something of definite interest in the first scene: Mycroft Holmes goes to Newgate Prison to spring his wastrel brother (set up for pickpocketing, although he always returned the wallets after swiping them), and finds him at fisticuffs with the shirtless muscleman Barney (Adam Basil, top photo).
Pecs, abs, biceps...dude, you're breath-taking. Why have I never seen you in anything before?
Turns out that I've seen him in a lot of things, but he's playing characters named The Beast, The Butcher, and The Demon, under heavy stage makeup, so you can't really see his face. Or physique.
Pity.
I didn't find a lot of biographical information, just what is listed on the IMDB: Adam grew up in the east of England, studied acting, and performed traditional British theater. His "unusually high levels of athleticism" (meaning his muscles?) led him to creature work.
After a few small roles, Adam became Disney-famous for the live action version of Beauty and the Beast (2017) -- as the Beast, before the spell is broken and he turns into Dan Stevens.
Disney today, Marvel tomorrow: in 2021, he starred in Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage as the sarcastic, gay-coded symbiote who shares the body of journalist Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy). Shares the body? Tell me more.
Left: Tom's dick.
But it was his role as The Bloater in The Last of Us (2023) that sealed Adam's popularity with gay fans.
Wait -- The Last of Us is about a zombie Apocalypse caused by a mutated wheat fungus. The Bloater is completely covered with fungal pustules, which act like iron plates, making him impervious to bullets -- and giving him super-strength, so he rips people's heads off their bodies, like the zombie Samson in 28 Years Later.
They also make him so disgusting that I had to avert my eyes whenever he appeared. How does a being like that gain gay fans?
But in interviews in Out and The Pink News, Adam states that the Bloater has become a sex symbol in the gay community. He gets erotic DMs that call him Big Daddy Mushroom.
Are you sure that "Big Daddy Mushroom" refers to the Bloater?
More after the break