14 Iconic Super Hero Couples from DC and Marvel

Love is in the air! Or, well, on the page. For decades, DC Comics and Marvel Comics fans have witnessed their favorite heroes find love amid all the battles and showdowns. And even though your favorite couple may split up in one story, they’ll gravitate back together in the next. That’s just the way comics go.

Longtime partnerships with intertwined destinies are as sensational as any comic book event. Relationship drama is just as central to the narrative as the plot to defeat the villain. Without love to challenge and transform our favorite characters, their development would be just a little less riveting. So ahead of Valentine’s Day, let’s look at 14 of the most iconic super hero couples in DC and Marvel.

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Batman and Catwoman

Perhaps the most popular enemies to lovers couple in DC Comics, Catwoman and Batman have a rocky history. They bring out the best and the worst in each other. Despite Catwoman being one of Batman’s main adversaries and against his better judgement, he wants to save her. She won’t stop thieving. He won’t stop pursuing justice. Besides, Catwoman likes to witness the dark and the light sides of her knight.

Their love-hate relationship is emphasized when their goals align, but their morals don’t. Still, even in their civilian disguises as Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle, the two Gothamites can’t fight their attraction. Bruce even proposes to Selina years into their relationship, to which she responds yes. Although they do not officially tie the knot, they do declare their undying love for one another.

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Wiccan and Hulkling

Young Avengers Billy Kaplan/Wiccan and Teddy Altman/Hulkling are one of Marvel’s current “it” couples. They start dating around the time their teenage super hero gang gets together, and have been together ever since. Now, their relationship hasn’t been perfect. For instance, Wiccan was once convinced he had imagined Teddy into existence. This anxiety is in fact exacerbated because Wiccan’s mom, Wanda Maximoff, had brought Billy and his twin brother Tommy Shepherd into the world the same way.

Billy and Teddy find their way through that drama, though. Together, the two men are an ultimate power couple. After 15 years of a longterm partnership, they also finally marry — twice. Now, the Demiurge (AKA Billy, a magic user at his fullest potential) and the King of the Skrull/Kree empire (Teddy, claiming his rightful throne) are a heroic and romantic force to be reckoned with.

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Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy

From gal pals to girlfriends who grow together! Although Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn were considered only close friends for decades, the pair of Gotham City Sirens are loud and proud in modern DC comic book runs. A mainstream ship as well, Pamela and Harleen are married in multiple iterations of DC stories, from panels of Injustice: Year Zero to the small screen.

Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn are so sweet they’ll rot your teeth. These women are constantly complimenting (and complementing) each other. They fight alongside each other, have each other’s backs, and have lived through so much similar trauma that they understand one another completely. Equally important, they actually communicate. We don’t see that with many comic book couples.

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Scarlet Witch and Vision

Scarlet Witch and Vision have a love story for the ages. The all-powerful Avenger and the invincible android are devoted to their teams, their roles as super heroes, and to each other. It takes a lot of time to get there, though. When they first meet, Vision is overwhelmed by Wanda’s humanity and he can’t understand the chemistry and attraction he feels for her. It is not until Wanda’s twin brother Quicksilver goes missing and she seeks comfort from Vision that the two initiate a romantic relationship.

Then it’s a wedding, a honeymoon, and a modest suburban home for the odd couple! Domestic bliss takes over with the birth of their twin boys thanks to Wanda’s chaos magic. Later, the children as well as their father are unmade and killed, respectively, though with comics no one is ever truly gone. Scarlet Witch and Vision have since reconciled as friends, and their reincarnated kiddos are doing well for themselves professionally as well as personally.

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Superman and Lois Lane

Although Lois Lane doesn’t have superpowers — besides in a few one-off Superwoman and Krypton Girl storylines — she is a super hero in her own right. A brave journalist and a strong mother, she is also an unwavering source of support for her Kryptonian beau Superman. Furthermore, Lois also loves his dorkier Clark Kent side.

Before Lois knows Clark Kent’s identity, the couple have a series of quirky romantic misunderstandings. Clark is the shy guy who adores no-nonsense Lois. Lois has a crush on the unattainable extraterrestrial hero Superman. Once everyone is honest, however, sparks fly faster than a speeding bullet. Now Lois and Clark have a son named Jon Kent who saves the day as Superboy and will one day take over his father’s mantle.

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Spider-Man and MJ

Similar to Lois Lane above, MJ Watson is an ordinary human without powers, except in alternate realities. On the other hand, in the recent Marvel comic Mary Jane & Black Cat: Beyond, MJ briefly takes on the Black Cat mantle to rescue Felicia Hardy. And then she got tangled up with a dark god only to return from an alternate reality with her own set of glyph-based powers (in a fun homage to her most famous catchphrase). So it’s definitely safe to classify MJ and Spidey as a fan-favorite super hero couple.

Peter Parker meets MJ on a blind date. You might recall her famous “Face it Tiger, you just hit the jackpot” quote. Thinking she is shallow, though, Peter doesn’t engage in a romantic relationship with her until after Gwen Stacy’s death at the hands of Green Goblin. Since then, however, Spider-Man and Mary Jane are an inseparable duo. As on-and-off as they are, and even with Mephisto undoing their marriage, Spidey and MJ endure as an iconic Marvel couple.

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Nightwing and Batgirl

Batgirl and Nightwing are two invaluable members of Bruce Wayne’s Bat-Family. They train together. They fight crime together. And in the few free moments they get between saving the world and maintaining their secret identities, Dick Grayson and Barbara Gordon find their homecoming in one another. Their relationship is even so important to DC history that its inception actually rewrote years of Batman comics continuity in order to create a better canon for the two lovebirds.

Finally, the will-they-or-won’t-they ends in marriage in Dark Nights: Death Metal. These former sidekicks have also since graduated to full-blown super heroes in their own rights. Because, let’s face it, they’re better vigilantes when they’re in sync. So whether it’s planning a bad guy bash or a date night, Nightwing and Batgirl are a perfect pair.

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Storm and Black Panther

In Marvel comics, Black Panther and Storm meet when they’re children. Ororo uses her mutant weather powers to save T’Challa from kidnapping. Consequently, the two teens develop a close friendship that quickly turns romantic. Their young love lasts for years even when they go their separate ways — Black Panther joins the Avengers and Storm joins the X-Men.

Reconnecting in adulthood, Storm and Black Panther marry. Besides being a great fit for them both, this legal commitment gives Storm the prestige she deserves since it makes Storm queen consort of Wakanda. Unfortunately, the powerful couple divorces only six years later due to the destruction and betrayals caused by the Phoenix’s return to Earth. Unlike many of the other super hero couples on this list, these two are still separated in the comics. However, they’ve recently reunited (professionally) on the latest Avengers lineup.

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Black Canary and Green Arrow

Green Arrow and Black Canary are one of those comic couples that feel like they’ve always been together. They’re beginning is kind of casual, with Dinah Lance clearly nervous about having anything serious with Oliver Queen. For example, she refuses marriage in addition to telling him she doesn’t want to bring kids into such a dangerous place as Star City.

Again, as comics tend to go, their relationship changes. Dinah accepts Oliver’s proposal. They marry — the event itself marred by melodrama and tragedy — but nonetheless, it’s a resounding “I do” from both heroes. As a result, many other iterations of the couple are happily together. They even have a son in the video game Injustice 2.

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Midnighter and Apollo

Apollo and Midnighter of The Authority are one of DC’s most prominent same-sex relationships. These two men have been together for years and years within canon continuity. In fact, their close friendship blossomed into a love confession all the way back in 1999! They are equally important as the popular “BatCat” and “Clois” relationships.

While it may appear from their character designs that opposites attract, Midnighter and Apollo work so well because they can both compromise and deliberate how best to get their super heroics done. They’ve had their fights, but which couple on this list hasn’t? Ultimately, these guys have always found their way back to each other just as every other enduring hero pair.

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The Flash and Iris West

Despite being DC’s Fastest Man Alive, falling in love with Barry Allen requires a shocking amount of patience — just ask Iris West. This intrepid journalist is more often than not waiting for Barry’s messy heroics to sort themselves out. But that’s just how true love works.

As a conduit of the Speed Force, The Flash can be a little all over the place (and space and time, when he’s utilizing his full powers). It’s enough to make one’s head spin. But Iris manages to be a necessary tempering force in the Scarlet Speedster’s life. She’s even the one who first encouraged him to become a hero for Central City. Through lost memories, Gorilla-infested cities, evil brothers, and time-travel kidnappings, their love always brings them running back toward the other. Someday they’ll manage to have a date that’s not interrupted by the world ending.

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Rogue and Gambit

Nobody in super hero comics does tortured romance quite like these two. He’s a Cajun cad with irresistible charm and she’s a Southern gal whose touch is lethal. On paper, it sounds like an immediate mismatch. Yet somehow Rogue and Gambit go together like sugar and spice.

Though her mutant power certainly complicates matters, Gambit wants nothing more than to make sure his chère is happy. Over the years, their relationship has grown from feisty flirtation to a constant among the X-Men. Gambit meets Rogue wherever she’s at emotionally and physically, whether that means touching or no touching. A love like that, patient and without expectation, is certainly hard to find. They’ve weathered the storms of Rogue’s fluctuating powers, Gambit’s sinister past, and Mystique’s meddling. Plus, we can thank Kitty Pryde for ditching Colossus at the altar for allowing Rogue and Gambit’s marriage to happen!

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John Constantine and Zatanna

Do you believe in magic? With these two around, it’s not hard. But how about love? Well, that’s a spell that’s decidedly more difficult to sustain, even with all the mystical might in the Multiverse.

For Zatanna Zatanna and John Constantine, love just doesn’t seem to be in the tarot cards. Or, if it is, those cards are always foretelling doom and gloom. They got off to a pretty rough start, what with John coercing Zatanna and her father into a risky seánce that resulted in the elder magician’s death. Since then, these two have cast circles around each other. All omens point to no, especially considering the track record of John’s love interests, but Zee and Constantine always seem to charm each other one way or another. How could you resist someone who’s willing to stop time and move the stars just for you?

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Jean Grey and Cyclops

And finally, we have Jean Grey and Scott Summers, arguably the most famous couple from the X-Men. They were the first X-Men team romance, after all. These two really do stick with each other through thick and thin, eternally upholding that part of the vows that says ’til death do us part.

While it could be said that nearly every member of the original X-Men had a crush on Jean (except Bobby, slay), Scott is the mutant who won her heart. As they grew older, their love became a piece of the team’s foundation. Despite infernal clones, intergalactic death, and even one sordid psychic affair, Jean Grey and Cyclops share a love that can’t be extinguished. Nowadays, as Phoenix embraces her true cosmic potential and Cyclops struggles to protect mutantkind, their love for each other is more important than ever. But that flame won’t be blowing out anytime soon.

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Who are you favorite super hero couples? Did they make the list?

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