10 Messiest Relationships in Marvel Comics

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The messiest relationships in the Marvel Universe feature names you’re familiar with, like Spider-Man, Black Panther, Storm, Elektra, Scarlet Witch, Daredevil, and many more. Some of the messiness can be chalked up to deaths, resurrections, and all of the usual wild things that can only take place in superhero comics. Now, let’s take a look at Marvel’s messiest relationships.

10) Sabretooth and Mystique

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Love affairs between villains can get hot and heavy, and sometimes, it results in the birth of a baby boy. This is the case with X-Men villains Sabretooth and Mystique. Sabretooth is Wolverine’s greatest nemesis, and Mystique has fought against the X-Men as a member of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Coincidentally, they’ve also been members of the X-Men at various points, but that’s besides the point. Mystique and Sabretooth had human son named Graydon Creed, who was abandoned by Mystique when she learned he was a homo sapien.

Graydon grew up to hate mutants once he learned that his parents both were, and that they had discarded him as being useless. Graydon used his hatred of mutants to form the Friends of Humanity.

9) Spider-Man and Black Cat

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Mary Jane Watson may be the love of Spider-Man’s life, but his relationship with Black Cat may be the spiciest. Spider-Man and Black Cat began as rivals, with Spider-Man interfering with Black Cat’s criminal heists. However, Spider-Man’s good influence started to rub off on Black Cat, leading to them dating. The only problem is that Black Cat was more interested in the costumed Spider-Man than his civilian identity as Peter Parker.

Black Cat bobs and weaves throughout Spider-Man’s life at different points in time, but they usually wind up on good terms, even when she’s doing bad things. Black Cat will try her hand at being a full-blown superhero in an upcoming series that will be inspired by Spider-Man’s battle with Hellgate.

8) Daredevil and Elektra

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Daredevil and Elektra follow a similar romantic path as Spider-Man and Black Cat, except there’s a lot more death involved. Elektra has fought against Daredevil as an agent of The Hand, and even worked with Daredevil to bring the evil organization down. Daredevil and Elektra’s relationship is what led Bullseye to kill her, only for The Hand to bring her back to life.

No matter how many times they try to stay away from each other, Daredevil and Elektra always find their way back to one another. They often butt heads since they have different ways of operating, with Daredevil typically more heroic compared to the assassin-for-hire Elektra.

7) Black Panther and Storm

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If you want to get a fanbase really riled up, bring up the marriage between Black Panther and Storm. After never being linked together, Marvel had the bright idea to have the two get married. Black Panther and Storm originally met as kids, but they both went on to establish themselves as grown-ups, with T’Challa becoming King of Wakanda and Storm becoming a leader on the X-Men.

But of course, things couldn’t remain calm and peaceful. Storm and Black Panther began growing apart, highlighted by the Avengers vs. X-Men event that found the married couple on opposing sides of the war. Black Panther declared the X-Men enemies of Wakanda after Namor used the Phoenix Force to flood the country, while Storm sided with the X-Men. Add in the X-Men seeking solitude on the sovereign nation of Krakoa and how Wakanda viewed the X-Men afterwards, and it all gets a bit messy.

6) Cyclops and Jean Grey

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The poster child for X-Men romances is Cyclops and Jean Grey, members of Charles Xavier’s original X-Men. A romance as long as the one between Scott Summers and Jean Grey can only result in marriage, which did happen. Of course, before that, there was the matter of Cyclops believing Jean was dead after her possession by the Dark Phoenix, and falling in love with and having a baby with Jean’s clone, Madelyne Pryor.

As much as they’ve been linked together, Cyclops eventually found love in the arms of reformed villain Emma Frost. Cyclops and Jean Grey hold a special place in each other’s hearts, which will become apparent later on in our list.

5) Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne

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The big relationship in the early days of the Avengers was between brilliant scientist Hank Pym and the person who helped name Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, Janet Van Dyne. They fought together on the Avengers as Ant-Man/Giant-Man and Wasp. Their fairytale relationship evolved into a marriage, but some curious creative choices torpedoed any of that goodwill.

Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne broke up over Hank’s domestic abuse of his partner. The choice to have Hank be an abuser is something that has stuck with the character to this day, leading him down some dark paths like bonding to his robotic creation, Ultron. Janet has managed to move past this event, but it still lingers on in some readers’ minds.

4) Vision and Scarlet Witch

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This is our first entry that involves a non-human participant, though Vision may have more humanity than those who would judge him. While they are known as Avengers, they both have villainous origins. Before joining their ranks, Scarlet Witch and her brother Quicksilver fought Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, and Vision was created by Ultron. They found love in each other’s arms once they became heroes, though they had to fight against prejudices along the way, since Vision is an android.

Vision and Scarlet Witch eventually got married and had kids through Scarlet Witch’s magical powers. However, they lost Billy and Tommy, who would later come back as the Young Avengers Wiccan and Speed, respectively. There’s also the matter that Vision’s brain patterns are copied from Simon Williams/Wonder Man, who Scarlet Witch was also romantically linked to. Marvel is celebrating the 50th anniversary of Vision and Scarlet Witch’s wedding with a new limited series.

3) Colossus and Kitty Pryde

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Kitty Pryde was the first teen addition to the X-Men, setting the stage for the likes of Jubilee and others. Kitty quickly became infatuated with Colossus, even though there was a slight age difference between the two. That didn’t stop love from blooming, though it was interrupted slightly when Colossus sacrificed his life to develop a cure to the Legacy Virus. Luckily, Kitty is the one who discovered Colossus was still alive years later.

Colossus and Kitty Pryde staged a big wedding, only for Kitty to change her mind at the very last minute. And when I say last minute, I mean right before the wedding was to take place. Kind of a crappy thing to do to someone you have such a long history with.

2) Hawkeye and Anyone

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Hawkeye has been romantically linked to a few of his Avengers teammates throughout the years, and the breakup always goes badly for him. Whether we’re talking about Black Widow, Spider-Woman, or Mockingbird, Clint Barton just can’t find a stable relationship. The closest he came to one was with Mockingbird, whom he married. They even led the West Coast Avengers together.

Hawkeye and Mockingbird were both replaced by Skrulls in Secret Invasion, but they tried to rekindle their romance after the event. However, Mockingbird filed for divorce, and Hawkeye went on to have a couple of failed romances. To her credit, Mockingbird did find love with Spider-Man.

1) Cyclops, Jean Grey and Wolverine

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A love triangle always existed between Cyclops, Jean Grey, and Wolverine, though Jean always settled with Cyclops. What Jean had with Wolverine was more of a fling, while Cyclops was the stable option of the two. One of the highlights of the X-Men’s Krakoa era was placing the trio in a polyamorous relationship. Why choose between Cyclops and Wolverine when you can have both?

The Summers Family made a home for themselves on the Blue Area of the Moon. A data page that became a highlight during House of X and Powers of X featured the room layouts, revealing that Cyclops, Jean Grey, and Wolverine all had connecting rooms. Wolverine and Cyclops’ rooms were on the left and right, with Jean’s room in the middle. Unfortunately, the Krakoan era is no more, and Marvel seems to have forgotten about this messy love triangle.