Dating back to the ’60s, Marvel Comics has always placed romance front and center in their comics. It was one thing to save the day, but could the hero do it and maintain the relationship they had with their significant other? That was the question that kept readers coming back from month to month. Romances remained the connection heroes had with their humanity.
However, there are some romances in Marvel Comics fans would rather forget. These stories are often wiped from collective comic history to keep everyone from thinking about them. Some newer fans might not even be aware some that some of Marvel’s most despicable couples were real.
10 Magneto and Rogue Feels Like A Holdover From An Alternate Timeline
The Magneto and Rogue romance was a holdover from the Age of Apocalypse storyline, where the two of them were in love with one another and even got married. The trick to a romance like that, however, is that it’s only interesting because it shouldn’t make sense within the main continuity.
While Rogue did have a brief thing for Magneto when her powers went out of control, it didn’t stick around for very long. Rogue has long been an essential part of fans’ one true pairing of Gambit and Rogue, meaning most X-Fans don’t want anything to do with any other couple.
9 Thor and She-Hulk Felt Like A Purely Physical Connection
Recently, She-Hulk dealt with a transformation that left her feeling a lot more like her savage cousin, Bruce Banner. With that transformation came increased strength and a classic Hulk vocabulary.
While she was working through her issues, though, She-Hulk caught Thor’s eye. Her increased ferocity was appealing to the Norse god and he asked her out. Though he tried to maintain interest in Jennifer Walters in her human identity, the relationship always felt more driven by a physical connection than anything else. Unsurprisingly, once She-Hulk went back to normal, the relationship vanished. Perhaps there are some fans who think this couple deserves another shot, but it’s unlikely to happen.
8 Elektra and Punisher Weren’t Honest With Each Other
Elektra and Punisher feels like one of those cursed relationships. Elektra and Matt Murdock are so close these days that they’re wearing matching Daredevil costumes, so no one expected to see Elektra with anyone else. Meanwhile, Punisher doesn’t seem like he cares about anything other than vengeance for his murdered family.
Despite that, Elektra and Punisher were briefly paired up while they were working together in the Thunderbolts. It was a doomed romance. They both claimed it was only physical, only to slowly fall in love with each other. Unfortunately, it was a relationship built on manipulation and neither of them was willing to do what it took to remain together.
7 Tony Stark and the Wasp Were Forgettable Together
It’s true, Tony Stark has always been a notorious playboy. It was a defining characteristic for him all the way up until the early 2000s. However, Stark’s relationships with fellow Avengers had always been mostly professional. Not long ago, though, Stark was romantically linked with Janet Van Dyne. The two made sense on a surface level since they were both Avengers and they were both incredibly rich.
Iron Man and The Wasp was one of those forced relationships that appear out of a need for romance in superhero stories. They had very little to tie them together in the end, and Janet randomly dumped him in an Iron Man issue without anyone thinking twice about it. The break-up was just as forgettable as the relationship.
6 Spider-Man and Captain Marvel Were A Short-Lived Couple
Spider-Man and Captain Marvel were one of Marvel’s strangest and most wholesome pairings. While Carol was on a mission undercover, Spider-Man agreed to help her out. However, he asked her to go out with him as his only condition.
While Spider-Man and Marvel had an awkward first date, they did discover a shared love for hot dogs. In a way, the romance worked, in that it was very different from anything Peter or his readers were used to. Not only does Carol know about his life as Spider-Man, but she’s vastly more powerful than he is. Having Spider-Man be the person getting saved made for a nice dynamic. That said, Spider-Man had way too much relationship baggage for their relationship to last long-term.
5 She-Hulk And The Juggernaut Were Retconned Out Of Existence
This romance was such a bad idea that it was retconned from Marvel history. The brief Juggernaut/She-Hulk romance happened after the Canadian police captured Cain Marko and he was waiting to go to trial. After Cain stopped the Rhino from escaping, he had a conversation with Jennifer Walters that led to the two of them spending a night together.
Though this was the start of the Juggernaut’s brief time as a hero, fans still hated this. It became a joke around the Marvel Universe for a bit, but it was eventually retconned away. It turned out it was an alternate universe version of Jennifer who slept with Cain because women aren’t allowed to have meaningless hookups in the Marvel Universe.
4 Spider-Man and Mockingbird Ended Before It Could Begin
Spider-Man and Mockingbird proved just how much Spider-Man isn’t ready for a relationship. The two of them went on a date seemingly just before Peter’s company fell apart, and she continued dating him not long after. Unlike many of Peter’s former partners, she wasn’t able to tolerate his underachieving. Though he’d only recently lost his billion-dollar company, she expected him to get back on his feet almost immediately.
Surprisingly, though, it wasn’t Spider-Man barely having a job that destroyed his relationship with Mockingbird. It was that they simply didn’t have enough in common to stick together in the first place. Their relationship ended almost as soon as it began and fans didn’t really care about its beginning or end.
3 Star-Lord and Kitty Pryde Felt Completely Random
The Guardians of the Galaxy dealt with some strange changes in the aftermath of their MCU film being a massive success. Suddenly, Marvel had to try and merge their MCU personalities with their comic personalities. They also had to try and tie in the Guardians with the Marvel Universe, leading to tons of crossovers with superheroes like Iron Man, Flash Thompson, The Thing…and Kitty Pryde.
Kitty Pryde met Star-Lord and the two found themselves in a relationship pretty quickly. Unfortunately, this relationship was doomed from the start. Kitty wasn’t ever going to be able to stay with the Guardians when she’s such an important part of the X-Men.
2 Quicksilver & Scarlet Witch Was Stupidly Edgy
Brother and sister Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch were never a thing in 616, but the Ultimate Universe seemed to pride itself on being “edgy.” Some of the character traits held in the normal Marvel Universe were blown out of proportion in the Ultimate Universe.
With that in mind, instead of Quicksilver being protective of his sister because of their shared trauma, the Ultimate version of the character had a different issue. The two characters were in love with one another. It felt like a weird “joke” to make, but they didn’t exactly stick to it, as Ultimatum got rid of Wanda before people had to think about this relationship for too long.
1 Human Torch & Medusa’s Romance Betrayed Crystal Twice
Human Torch and Medusa is a pairing that happened because comics have been around too long. The two of them had no business together since one of Johnny’s oldest relationships is with Medusa’s younger sister, Crystal. It’s the sort of familial betrayal that happens in soap operas but most comics are too classy to go there.
Even worse, Torch and Medusa never told Crystal about their relationship. She had to find out on her own, leaving her feeling devastated and betrayed by them both. In the end, Johnny and Medusa split up and the relationship hasn’t been referenced by Marvel since. Apparently, even giant corporations can feel shame.
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