Charles Gunn

Charles Gunn is a secondary character from the Angel fandom, perhaps best known for informing the debate around characters of color in the Whedonverse.
==Canon==
Gunn is introduced as a vampire-fighting gang leader, who (as it turns out) has sold his soul for a truck. His sister Alonna is turned in a vampire attack and he has to stake her. He collaborates with Angel and later joins the AI team, largely supplying muscle under the leadership of first Angel, then Wesley. He has a canonical relationship with physics genius Fred that founders after he kills someone for her, and a brief fling with electrically charged Gwen. He becomes close friends with Cordy and especially Wesley, but his hatred & suspicion of vampires prevents him forming a close bond with Angel.
In season 5, he undergoes a mystical upgrade, becoming lawyer-Gunn, who for some reason also spouts Gilbert & Sullivan. This leads to him being partly responsible for Fred's death, when she's consumed by Illyria.Though this arc could be considered an example of the Deadbrowalking trait to kill off or demonise characters of color, white characters Angel, Wesley & Cordelia all went through earlier Character Turns Dark arcs
==Fannish Opinion==
==Fandom==
A lot of discussion around Gunn in fandom relates to him being a character of color in the Whedonverse, where such characters notoriously die young, or are underutilised and/or stereotyped. Though Gunn is still standing (just) when the final credits roll, many fans consider he falls into both underutilised & stereotyped in canon. He might also be underutilised in fanworks, though it's hard to tease out how much of this is a consequence of the canon weaknesses and/or the fact that – unlike Angel, Cordy & Wesley – he has no history with the more popular Buffy the Vampire Slayer characters. This debate sometimes finds its way into fanfiction, for example Yahtzee's Them Mean Ol', Low-Down, Lando Calrissian Blues (link), a multifandom crossover that satirises the plight of the Sidekick of Color, and Jessica Harris's Wesley's Liberal Guilt, which puts fannish issues relating to race into Wesley's voice in his thoughts about Gunn.
In slash, Gunn's most popular ship is with Wesley, his most frequent pairing and one of the major AtS slash pairings. Other slash pairings include with Angel, Spike and Lindsey McDonald. He's most commonly shipped in het with Fred, Cordy and Gwen, and occasionally with Illyria and Faith. The Gunn/Wesley/Fred love triangle in canon results in occasional threesomes, and a few Angel/Wesley/Gunn threesomes that merge Wesley's two main ships have been written.
Little gen fanfiction focuses on Gunn. Occasional stories explore his backstory and relationship with his sister Alonna, and a few S5 works explore his angst over his role in Fred's death. There are also friendship stories for him with Wesley, and occasionally Cordy. He's often found playing a subsidiary role in AI teamfic, but he's rarely foregrounded in these stories.
Gunn is a relatively rare subject for fan art, though some depictions exist. He's occasionally pictured in compilations of black characters from a range of contexts. Digital manipulations of him, often with Wesley, are rather more common.
==Example Fanworks==
===Fanfiction===
*The Last Virtue by Yahtzee. Gunn celebrates Kwanzaa during the apocalypse (2002)
*Survival Instincts by Jennifer-Oksana. Dark look at Gunn/Fred that explores both their backstories (2002)
*The Uninvited Guest by Yahtzee. Casefic, AU crossover with BtVS, ensemble piece with a strong role for Gunn; Gunn/Faith & other pairings (2002)
* The Kindness of an Atheist by Sheila. A dark take Gunn/Wesley that examines Gunn's feelings about vampires (~2002)
*Self-Portrait in a Coma Patient by Glossolalia. Gunn & Cordelia (2003)
*Pepperidge Farm State of Mind by Glossolalia. Gunn & Lilah (2004)
*The Happy Return by Likeadeuce. Gunn & Giles, with asides on race (2005)
*Rumble, Young Man by Karabair/Likeadeuce. Gunn & Wesley (2006)
*Gotham (The Just When You Think You're Out Remix) by Medie. Fusion with Batman (2011)
*See Wesley/Gunn for more examples of that pairing
===Fan art===
*Charles Gunn by gothcat. Portrait; line art with added colour (2004)
*Charles Gunn by kadenfukuyama. Cartoon-style digital art (2004)
*Gunn by Enola1. Pencil portrait (2006)
*Rogue Demon Hunters by sassyskunk. Gunn & Wesley. Cartoon-style digital art (2006)
*Ats character studies 1 by astridv. Sketches including lawyer-Gunn; pen/marker drawings (2008)
*Charles Gunn by ShawnAtkinson. Action portrait; line art cartoon (2013)
*I'll slay the demons by M34g4nCr0w13y. Gunn/Fred; digital drawing (2013)
===Vids===
* Jesus Walks - a character study
*Gunn - Punitive Damages by Holdt (2010)
===Meta===
* Charles Gunn by blueswan9 -- Idol Reflections essay (2004)
* Character Roles and "Xander Harris Syndrome" (undated)
* Shoulder to Shoulder, an introduction to Wesley/Gunn, a Wesley/Gunn ship manifesto by mimesere (2004)
* Textless but Teeming, a Gunn/Lindsey ship manifesto by idyll (2004)
==Archives, Fansites & Communities==
===Archives===
* Angel at Remember Us archive for non-white characters
* Street/Pugilist (via WBM) -- small fanfiction archive & fansite (offline)
* The Gunn/Wesley Fanfiction Archive -- archive for the Gunn/Wesley pairing
* Gunn tag on AO3
===Fansites===
* Walking while black -- Gunn fanlisting
===Yahoogroups & Lists===
* Gunn_Fanfic
* Cordelia-n-Gunn -- Gunn/Cordelia
* Fred & Gunn -- Gunn/Fred
* GunnWesley -- Gunn/Wesley
* Gunn Worshippers
* streetpugilist (deleted)
* CordyGunn -- Gunn/Cordelia (deleted)
* Gunn_Gwen -- Gunn/Gwen (deleted)
===LiveJournals===
* gunn_friends (deleted)
==Recs & Resources==
*Gunn recs by Doyle at Ice Cream for Freaks
==References==
Category:Buffyverse Characters