Comic books are very dramatized and it’s very common for superhero comics to have lots
of couples getting together and unfortunately, breaking apart.
So today I want to take a look at some of the biggest breakups that happened in Marvel
Comics and maybe give you a little bit of history about the characters as well so…
enjoy!
When it comes to superheroes dating around, it seems like Spider-Man is up there at the
very top of the list!
However, there is no doubt that Mary Jane Watson shined for years as Peter’s main
love interest.
After all, the two even got married in the monumental issue back in 1987!
These two would be one of Marvel’s biggest couples for TWENTY YEARS until it was undone
by the infamous One More Day storyline in 2007.
Yep, that’s the one where a LOT of Spider-Man stuff was retconned away by selling their
marriage to the demon, Mephisto, because Marvel wanted Peter to be a swinging single again
which led to that iconic page.
“I want your love.
I want your marriage.”
Just like that, Peter and Mary Jane were never married.
Oh sure, they still had a long term relationship, but they just never tied the knot and broke
up once the demon smoke cleared.
History was changed so that Peter missed the wedding day while off saving the day as Spider-Man
and Mary Jane flat out told him that because of it, she couldn’t marry Peter unless he
gave up being Spidey which... he couldn’t.
Eventually, this life got to be too much for Mary Jane and she straight up left.
For fans of Peter and Mary Jane being together though, Marvel is currently putting out a
book called The Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows that takes place in an alternate
universe containing just that along with their daughter, Anna-May Parker.
Heh, anime…
In all seriousness though, I like the book, especially after the timeskip.
So if that intrigues you, I suggest looking into it.
Considering how few openly gay characters exist in mainstream superhero comics, it’s
always noteworthy when characters enter into a same sex relationship.
It’s even bigger however when there’s an on panel kiss.
So let’s look at the couple that shared Marvel’s first male on male kiss, Shatterstar
and Rictor.
Ever since joining X-Force in the 90s, Shatterstar and Rictor were always close and there was
a fair amount of sexual subtext between them including Shatterstar learning Spanish SOLELY
so that he could talk privately with Rictor.
Let’s also not forget the time when Rictor took Shatterstar out dancing which ended with
Shatterstar, a bioengineered being, making it very clear to Rictor that he has all of
the necessary parts to “fully simulate physical human interaction”.
Fans quickly picked up on all of the undertones and had their patience rewarded with their
landmark kiss in 2009 fully confirming their relationship.
It was a bold move, but an amazing step forward for LGBT representation in comics!
So that’s why it’s so disappointing that these guys broke up!
What’s even worse is that we don’t really know the reason why with Rictor briefly mentioning
it in passing in the Iceman series and IMMEDIATELY hitting on him.
You’d think that a couple as groundbreaking as Rictor and Shatterstar, with all of their
build up over the decades, would have their split handled with a little bit of tact and
grace, but sadly it wasn’t here.
Kitty Pryde has dated some pretty prominent characters like Colossus and Iceman, but she
was straight up ENGAGED to Star-Lord from the Guardians of the Galaxy.
Sure, the only real reason this happened was because writer, Brian Michael Bendis wants
to vicariously date her through his characters, but Kitty and Peter’s interactions were
actually pretty damn adorable.
Besides, you know that this relationship had to be serious when she was willing to literally
move to space for him.
Unfortunately though, Kitty is a mainstay of the X-Men series so permanently shipping
her off to space wouldn’t be the best move if Marvel wanted to keep on making X-Men books
so the two needed a reason to break up.
Well how about Star-Lord becoming president of a galactic empire, getting wrapped up in
work, and treating his fiancee like literal garbage?
Yeah, that’d be enough grounds for a break up.
Despite this, Kitty and Peter had a bit of a will they, won’t they vibe even after
the split coupled with a few post-break up hookups.
However, when the Guardians temporarily crash landed on Earth, Kitty stuck around which
pretty much means that this fan favorite pairing is done for good.
Black Panther and Storm are two of Marvel’s most well known black characters and them
getting married was pretty damn monumental.
Their relationship was even expanded upon on by giving backstory of how they were childhood
lovers back before Storm was worshiped as a goddess in Africa and well before she joined
the X-Men.
Their wedding was pretty damn interesting considering that Storm hails from outside
of Wakanda and that T’Challa wasn’t going to be taking a queen from the Dora Milaje,
the Black Panther’s all female staff of body guards that are specifically meant to
be a pool of potential mates as dictated by Wakandian tradition.
It’s also interesting in that the wedding took place smack dab in the middle of the
Superhuman Civil War and acted as one of the only neutral grounds for heroes on both side
of the Superhuman Registration Act to come together.
So what could tear up these childhood sweethearts?
How about the destruction of a capital?
Yeah, in the Avengers vs. X-Men event, Namor the Sub-Mariner was amped up with the power
of the Phoenix Force and flooded the capital city of Wakanda.
This was an act of war and since Storm still chose to continue to stand with the X-Men
even after this, T’Challa used his power as the king of Wakanda to nullify their marriage
then and there in one of the most heartbreaking scenes of the entire event.
Speaking of childhood love, Blackagar Boltagon A.K.A.
Black Bolt is the king of the Inhumans and although he has multiple wives, the only one
that he truly cares about is his second cousin, Medusa.
Black Bolt’s voice causes massive destruction with even the faintest of sounds so he was
raised in isolation.
However, Medusa would often sneak off and communicate with him through a special sign
language which blossomed into love.
Black Bolt and Medusa were the face of the royal family and honestly, the Inhuman series
as a whole, but that changed when Black Bolt let off a bomb that unleashed a massive amount
of Terrigen mist onto the world and was thought to be dead.
Medusa mourned her husband and took over as the ruler of the Inhumans, growing close to
and entering into a relationship with Johnny Storm, the Human Torch, in the process.
Even when Black Bolt decided to reveal that he was alive the whole time, Medusa was PISSED,
would NOT let Blackagar back on the throne, and continued her relationship with Johnny.
Since then, Medusa has broken up with the Human Torch and reconciled with Black Bolt,
but at the time of this recording, Medusa and the royal family are off having space
adventures and Black Bolt is trapped in a super prison by his brother, Maximus, so the
state of their relationship is a bit uncertain at the moment.
Scott Summers and Jean Grey were THE couple of the X-Men and no matter the universe or
the medium, their love almost always shows up in some way, shape, or form.
Now don’t get me wrong, their love is also super complicated what with all of the clones,
cosmic entities, time travel, cheating, and death that’s involved…
Because comics.
That last one is important though, death.
It seems like every time that Jean dies or seemingly dies, Scott instantly hooks up with
another girl, most prominently, Emma Frost, who Scott once cheated on Jean with.
Okay so TECHNICALLY it wasn’t physical cheating and it only happened in Emma’s mind which
she brought Scott into, but despite what you might think about fantasies being cheating
or not, I feel like like consciously hooking up in a telepath’s mindscape is a different
animal entirely.
Anyway, this isn’t much of a “true” breakup since they DID stay married until
Jean’s long term death in 2004, but even though she’s in the process of coming back
to life… again… at the time of this recording, it doesn’t really matter since Cyclops is
ALSO dead at the time of this recording.
Regardless, this couple’s life was FULL of trials and tribulations so they pretty
much deserved a spot on this list regardless, especially with how quickly after Jean’s
death that Scott went running into Emma’s arms, on top of Jean’s grave no less...
The original Ant-Man and Wasp, Hank Pym and Janet van Dyne, were one of the first power
couples at Marvel Comics and they were even founding members of The Avengers!
Despite this, things got… weird around the time that Hank took up a new identity of Yellowjacket.
So one day in the lab, Hank accidentally dropped a vial of various gases that brought on a
hardcore case of schizophrenia which caused him to take on the Yellowjacket persona.
When he appeared before The Avengers, Yellowjacket claimed to have killed Hank, kidnapped Janet,
and kissed her, but this kiss was enough to reveal Hank’s true identity to her.
Janet straight up MARRIES Yellowjacket, thinking that it would help snap Hank out of this new
personality, but… it doesn’t.
It would take a villain named Ringmaster attacking them at their wedding to do that.
Regardless, Hank decided to keep the Yellowjacket persona and continued to be happily married.
Okay so let’s talk about the elephant in the room…
Hank has always been pretty mentally unstable and this got him sidelined on The Avengers.
In an attempt to get back in their good graces, Hank built a robot to attack the team with
a secret weak spot that only he knew of, hoping that he could save The Avengers and be welcomed
back.
When Janet objected to this plan, Hank struck her.
Now we’ve discussed it on the channel before, but to briefly touch on it again, this is
completely unacceptable.
However…
the writer, Jim Shooter, has stated that this was MEANT to be depicted as Hank throwing
up his hands in anger and accidentally hitting Janet, but the artist misinterpreted it.
Again, not condoning domestic abuse in the slightest, just giving some backstory.
Regardless, the robot was stronger than Hank had anticipated so it was Janet that ended
up saving the day and she divorced him instantly afterwards which…
yeah.
That makes total sense and was a great move on her part.
Now sure Jessica Jones and Luke Cage might be the most prominent interracial couple over
at Marvel, but for a long time, it was Iron Fist and Misty Knight that were in the spotlight.
In fact, the two of them shared the first interracial kiss in Marvel Comics in Marvel
Team-Up #64 in 1977.
I personally have been a major fan of these two as a couple since they are just plain
adorable and work really REALLY well together.
That’s why it was super exciting when Misty was revealed to be pregnant with Danny’s
child and then seeing the two of them get engaged, but sadly that wouldn’t last.
Apparently this pregnancy was a false positive brought on by Danny’s Iron Fist chi and
this severely crippled the relationship to the point of them parting ways entirely.
There’s no doubt that this hurt fans, but I DO want to give props to the emotional scene
that is Danny and Misty moving out since it is incredibly realistic.
Danny mentions that when you move in, it is a joy to merge your books, movies, records,
etc. into one massive collection, but when breaking up, separating them can feel like
surgery.
As someone who has actually gone through this a couple of times himself, it really played
on my heartstrings and only made this hurt more.
If you’re torn up by any of these breakups then don’t worry because comic books are
basically soap operas.
There’s constant death and resurrection, reveals, breakups and hookups, reconciliation,
etc.
So give it some time and maybe they’ll get back together
Buy hey, if you like this video then why not consider subscribing or even watching another
one?
In fact, if you need a pick me up after all of these breakups then why not watch out video
on Marvel Comic hookups.
It’s our most popular video and… it’s not hard to understand why.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed what you saw and maybe I’ll see you next time!