Insulet’s squad of friendly neighborhood diabetes superheroes is assembling. The newest superhero born out of a collaboration with Marvel Comics and Insulet, Gluconaut is armed with the strength of the stars and Insulet’s insulin delivery pump Omnipod to show others with diabetes that they too can be a confident hero while managing their glucose.
The new comic rolled out Nov. 10 and builds on Insulet’s initial Marvel collab “Dyasonic: Sound of Strength,” which features another Omnipod-powered superhero. Where Dyasonic laid the foundation of “a new generation of diabetes heroes,” as Insulet put it in a release, Glauconaut shines a light on a stigma-busting message of self-confidence and strength.
After distributing thousands of copies of "Dyasonic: Sound of Strength" to HCPs and diabetes patients around the globe, the response was "great" chief growth officer Manoj Raghunandanan explained to Fierce. But the community wanted more, telling Insulet "pretty directly, 'we want to see more of ourselves in this,'" the exec said.
Enter Podrick, the hero character in "Gluconaut: Strength of Stars." Podrick is a high schooler with type 1 diabetes who worries about fitting in while wearing his medical device. It isn't until Podrick meets a Skrull, an extraterrestrial shapeshifter familiar to Marvel fans, that he connects with someone who "knows exactly what it's like to feel different," Raghunandanan said.
Through the powerful force of inner self-acceptance and Insulet’s Omnipod, Podrick rises to hero status as Gluconaut, gaining confidence in managing his diabetes along the way. The story was written by Pallie Paul Allor, who himself lives with diabetes. This is important, as the diabetes community "can tell in about two pages whether the writer has lived it," Raghunandanan noted.
Allor’s own experience brings an authentic voice to the story and can inspire readers to embrace their own diabetes without fear of judgement. According to an Insulet survey, diabetes representation remains crucial for the community, with over half of those with type 1 diabetes surveyed in the U.S. highlighting the importance of seeing their condition accurately represented in culture and media, according to the company.
Still, many are missing out on that representation, with 37% reporting that they rarely see it and 14% marking that they never do. Meanwhile, one in three people surveyed say they have "hidden" their condition, Insulet CEO Ashely McEvoy commented in a statement.
“That’s a reminder that representation matters,” McEvoy continued. “We continue our work with Marvel because stories can shape beliefs and spark understanding in ways facts alone cannot. Our new hero, Gluconaut, builds on the impact of Dyasonic, helping young people with diabetes see themselves as empowered by what’s possible and not limited by their condition.”
Survey respondents explained that they hide their condition due to fear of being judged and "not wanting to explain it over and over," Raghunandanan elaborated. And for teenagers specifically, "being seen as different is about the hardest thing there is."
Podrick's arc is built to address this and other learnings from the survey.
"That's really what we're after," Raghunandanan said. "If a kid reads this and thinks, okay, maybe I could wear one of these, that opens the door to technology that has the potential to improve outcomes and quality of life."
Along with the Marvel collab, Insulet is teaming up with non-profit organization Children for Diabetes (CWD) and spreading the Gluconaut story across channels by encouraging community members and supporters to share Gluconaut GIFs on social media. Insulet will in turn provide scholarships for families to attend CWD’s Friends for Life conferences in Orlando, it said. The company and CWD ran a similar partnership for Dyasonic, with Insulet donating $1 to the non-profit for every Instagram post that includes a Dyasonic GIPHY or sticker.
From comic books to TV screens, Insulet’s efforts to push diabetes representation into the mainstream have resulted in a string of unique partnerships over the years. Most recently, Omnipod made its paid integration TV debut on the 2026 revival of medical comedy “Scrubs” as part of a plotline surrounding an annual barbecue party.
In the episode, the show’s chief of surgery Christopher Turk (played by actor Donald Faison), explains that he can still enjoy barbecue sauce and other meals thanks to his Omnipod wearable. The Omnipod shout-out marked a “milestone moment” that brings diabetes representation to millions of Disney and ABC’s “Scrubs” viewers, Insulet’s director of U.S. consumer marketing Lucas Escobar explained at the time.
Each of Insulet's creative tie-ups, whether it be "Scrubs," diabetes-focused mindfulness techniques through the Calm app or an official Omnipod Mango color with Pantone, serves a different purpose. The Marvel collab, for its part, "gives a kid with diabetes a hero who looks like them, and because it's Marvel, kids are excited to read it," Raghunandanan said.
Insulet also uses the campaigns to normalize Omnipod throughout culture, as the more "normal" the device appears, "the easier it is to live with," he noted.
Insulet's Omnipod 5 tubeless insulin pump became the first automated insulin delivery system to win FDA approval for both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes management after snagging an FDA expansion in Type 2 diabetes in 2024, building on its initial Type 1 nod from 2022. The Omnipod system automatically delivers insulin injections as needed and can pair with a phone app to make continuous insulin delivery easier, a key feature highlighted in the “Scrubs” episode.
Brand integration has “always been central to how we build Omnipod as a category leader,” Raghunandanan explained in a statement earlier this year. So far in 2026, Insulet’s Omnipod products have generated $2.4 billion in global revenue, the company recently reported.
Insulet isn’t the first in the medical space to open the books on a Marvel comics partnership. Even as far back as a decade ago, comic book characters who fight crime while battling different medical conditions have spawned to stir up positive representation, as evident in Takeda’s 2016 Marvel comic featuring inflammatory bowel disease-suffering hero Samarium.
In 2022, Pfizer and BioNTech added “Everyday Heroes” to Marvel’s Avengers squad to help boost vaccine uptake and beat COVID, which was characterized as the supervillain Ultron in the comic.