It is common for comic book fans to be drawn into comparison conversations about their favorite characters. Who would win in a fight, who is stronger, or who is the smartest? But rather than pit heroes against each other this Valentine’s Day, I asked myself which of my favorite characters from across the Big Two publishers might fall in love? What sort of scenario would it take to get them there, and what might the results be? And if you are reading this, I’m guessing you are curious about what I came up with. So, without further ramblings, here are five possible pairings in my Marvel x DC Love Stories!
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Jane Foster and Superman
After leaving his small Kansas home, a young Clark Kent strikes out to New York City to help preserve peace as the hero Superman. While fighting many battles against hostile aliens and maniacal supervillains, he frequently found himself coming into contact with emergency trauma doctor Jane Foster. Impressed by how fearlessly the woman strived to help others, even endangering her own life, Superman eventually took her into his confidence. Becoming allies, she learned of his secret identity, but proved his trust in her, by never revealing it. Eventually, the two became more than just allies. They became friends and eventually fell in love.
One day though, tragedy struck and Superman was felled by the monstrous creature Doomsday. Mourning the loss of her love, Jane retreated to his Fortress of Solitude where an unexpected mishap revealed a long-forgotten piece of Kryptonian technology that could grant her the powers of Superman. With these powers, she took up her late love’s fight, keeping the world safe in his absence. However, when Jane’s health began to fail, it was discovered that the energies of the machine were sapping her life from her. If she continued to use the machine she would die. Nevertheless, she fought for her planet, despite the cost. As she eventually succumbed to the machine’s harmful effects, the last thing she saw was her recently returned love’s face. Knowing that the world would continue to have a protector she slipped away knowing peace.
Lady Blackhawk and Captain America
This Marvel x DC Love Stories entry takes us back into the war-torn years of the 1940s. When Steve Rogers was granted superhuman abilities thanks to the experimental Super Soldier Serum, he became Captain America. Through his new position, Rogers spearheaded the Allies’ push against the Axis powers in countless battles. But to get everywhere he was needed, Rogers came to depend on an elite group of aviators known as The Blackhawks. He grew particularly close to one pilot, Zinda Blake. Rogers was saved from numerous brushes with death thanks to Zinda’s daring piloting. Most critically, she was present to catch Rogers when he was thrown from a plane by his arch nemesis Baron Zemo. A fall that would’ve surely cost the hero his life.
After the war, the duo married and became cultural icons, promoting gender equality and pushing the economic powers to aid and help build up the many areas of the world ravaged by the recent war. In later years, when the duo was nearing the end of their lives, they championed the newly established super team, The Avengers. Zinda provided the team with air support through her global shipping company Blackhawk Inc., while Rogers worked to guide the burgeoning team through his own experiences fighting for the common good. These influential roles earned them both honorary founder memberships in the team.
Harley Quinn and Scarlet Witch
After long suffering under the cruel treatment of Magneto and his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, Wanda Maximoff and her brother Pietro chose to leave the group. Enraged by this betrayal, Magneto lashed out at the twins, killing Peitro and leaving Wanda near death. As the young mutant struggled to find help, she was discovered by Harley Quinn. Seeing the brutal state Wanda was in, and having just recently escaped her own tortuous abuse at the hands of The Joker, Harley took Wanda in and nursed her back to health. Once on her feet again, the new friends decided to strike out together in search of the happiness they had long been denied.
While their adventures rarely went smoothly, the pair soon found themselves becoming heroes in their own way. While never fully managing to shake all of their villainous inclinations, they eventually found themselves fighting on the side of the angels, even if their methods were often called into question.
The one thing that could never be questioned though was the feeling that the two eventually came to share. So deep was their devotion to each other, that Wanda eventually devised a way for them to have children together through her magical powers. This yielded them a pair of twin boys who would find themselves growing up in a loving if chaotic family.
The Dark Knight and The White Queen
Bruce Wayne had thought he had seen the worst his city could throw at him. Then he discovered that an elite community for the rich and powerful called The Hellfire Club was secretly in control of large swathes of Gotham. Learning of this, Batman soon found himself regularly butting heads with the group, particularly its leader, Sebastian Shaw. Second in power to Shaw at the organization was Emma Frost, the White Queen.
As the group continued its war to control Gotham, Frost slowly began to shift her allegiance from Shaw to the Caped Crusader. Initially out of boredom with the group, Frost soon took a genuine interest in Batman and his single-minded purpose to help the residents of Gotham. Having always harbored a soft spot in her heart for children, Frost eventually turned on her former colleagues, and was instrumental in their ultimate defeat at the hands of Batman.
In the time after the club’s fall, Emma founded the Hellfire Trading Company. While perceived by many to be a shady organization, it was actually used by Frost to funnel would-be black marketeers and drug kingpins into the hands of Gotham’s Dark Knight, even if she always saw to make a tidy profit from others’ falls.
Over time, Bruce came to trust Emma, largely due to how honestly she always dealt with him and the fact that, despite her being a powerful telepath, she had never once pried into his mind to discover his many secrets. Her respect for him eventually prompted him to trust her with his secret of his own accord, as well as supporting her in a venture to found the Massachusetts Titans Academy to help mold the next generation of superheroes.
Jon Kent and Hulkling
This story begins when Darkseid and his minions attack the Kree-Skrull Alliance. With his forces stretched to the limit, Emperor Hulkling put out a call for aid. With the Alliance having long served as a bulwark against Apokolips, many from across the galaxy came to answer the call. Among them was Jon Kent, son of Superman and one of the last of his race.
With the powers gifted him by his Kryptonian heritage, Jon was always seen where the fighting was fiercest, frequently standing shoulder to shoulder with the Kree/Skrull Emperor. When a trap by the Apokolips forces saw the pair trapped behind their enemy’s lines and bereft of their powers, Jon and Hulkling were forced to survive a brutal game of cat and mouse with their pursuers, depending only on each other and their wits until help was able to arrive.
Due to how close the two had grown over their many adventures, Hulkling invited Jon to stay on after the conflict as his personal advisor. Seeing a chance to help steer one of space’s largest empires in ways that could help all, Jon agreed. But as the two worked ever more closely together to maintain peace throughout the galaxy, they inevitably grew ever closer, until one day Jon was no longer called the Royal Advisor, but instead, Royal Consort.
And there you have it. Five Marvel x DC Love Stories. I hope you have enjoyed these little what-ifs of love between superheroes and that you find whatever version of love you may be searching for. Read all kinds of comic book love stories now with our ComiXology affiliate link!
