Comic book history is full of fantastic couplings, whether they be canonical or fan-made ships. Sometimes they even start as fan ships and transition in. However, your favorite comic book couple met, chances are they’re together forever in your heart. Here are some of the most well-liked and best-supported couples from DC and Marvel comics in my opinion.
Green Arrow and Black Canary:
Oliver Queen and Dinah Lance have one of the longest relationships on this list, as well as one of the most complicated. They have been on-again-off-again so many times that one wonders why they’re still together. At least, until they see them in action. In both battle and everyday life, the pair balance each other out by being close to completely opposites. Arrow has been known to be a little brash and full of himself, and Canary doesn’t let him get away with it. The two have been featured as married across many platforms, such as video games and animated series, but are currently divorced in the comics and have not yet begun their relationship in the live-action series, Arrow.
Spiderman and Mary Jane:
The story of two young people falling in love is a tale as old as time, but things get significantly more complicated when your lover has mutant spider powers. Peter Parker and Mary Jane’s relationship has been every which way, depending on who was writing them at the time. They’ve been married, had a daughter, split up, cloned, and at one point, Peter accidentally gave her cancer with his highly concentrated radioactive semen. Talk about a mood killer. And yet somehow, they always find a bay back into each other’s arms.
Superman and Lois Lane:
Possibly the longest-running relationship on this list, and one that everyone is all too familiar with, Lois Lane and Clark Kent have flirted with destiny since the ’30s, but it wasn’t until 1978, almost fifty years later that Lois was in on the joke. For many years, Clark would pretend to be shy and bashful, running away when danger reared its ugly head, leaving Lois to fend for herself. Until old Supes showed up to save her, that is. This left Lois with a massive crush on Superman and a kind of friendly lethargy toward Clark Kent. But when the glasses came off, and he finally revealed himself. Now they’re together in all platforms and have more recently had a son named Johnathan Kent.
Gambit and Rogue:
If Superman and Lois Lane are the oatmeal on this list, then Rogue and Gambit are the spicy Jambalaya. Remy Etienne Lebeau (Gambit) and Marie D’Ancanto have both been adopted, shuffled around, lied to and broken many times. Both of them have fiery tempers but recognized a kinship with one another. The biggest obstacle for them wasn’t really that they were on opposite sides for a while, it was that Remy couldn’t touch her without being sent into a potential coma, a fate shared by one of Rogue’s previous boyfriends. And despite this, the two have found various ways to share their affection through the years.
Batman and Catwoman:
As much as we knew Superman and Lois Lane had to be on this list, so too did we expect Batman and Catwoman. Selina Kyle and Bruce Wayne have been coupled in many different forms, including as younger versions of themselves in the series Gotham. In addition to that, they’ve been united many times in the film, video games, and animated series. Usually, the two go up against a common enemy, otherwise, Batman just chases her across rooftops and tries to convince her to see the light. But Selina knows that Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend, and men are just a passing fad. But as far as fads go, Bruce seems to be one that she’d like to keep around, as they too know each other’s secret identities and have even double-dated with the Kents in more recent comics.
Sue Storm and Reed Richards, Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Woman:
Have you ever met someone who had their nose so deep in a book that they nearly walked off a cliff? Well, that’s Reed Richards, also known as Mr. Fantastic. After Susan and her brother Johnny (who would later become the Human Torch) were sent to live with their Aunt, Sue fell in love with one of her Aunts boarders, a young Dr. Reed Richards. Sue would eventually follow him to California, where he started to take notice of her. But it wasn’t until she climbed into an unshielded rocket with him and was blasted with cosmic rays, that their relationship really began. They were married and stayed that way until a villain turned their son into a psychic bomb and Richards had to disable his brain function. And you thought Sophie had a hard choice. Sue took the child and left, but eventually returned when Richards promised he had a way to restore his brain functionality. Now the family lives happily as a crime-fighting unit.
Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn:
If I may interject a bit of personal fangirling, Harleen Quinzell and Pamela Isley are my absolute favorite couple. In a Twitter post, DC stated that “Yes they are Girlfriends without the jealousy of monogamy.” Though these two don’t have as many years behind them as some of the couples on this list, they exploded into reality. The first instance that made fans wonder was the episode of the animated series, “Harley and Ivy”, where the two are seen living comfortably together in a cozy little toxic waste dump. The pair were powerful enough to capture Batman and were really only defeated because the Joker showed up to distract them. Since then, things in the comics have grown more serious between them; with Pam being Harley’s proof that she doesn’t have to be kicked around to be happy, and HaThe couple’s relationship to her humanity. The couple’s relationship has mostly been hinted at from platform to platform, including a scene between them in Injustice 2. But hopefully, we will see more of them as the years go by.
To those who are much more in love with Marvel than DC, I do apologize. I am not as savvy in Marvel as I am in DC. Unfortunately, that created a bias, but I absolutely love the couples that have been listed here and chose them because I feel they are the most interesting that I am aware of. What are some of your favorite comic couples?
