History Main / SuperheroesStaySingle

[[quoteright:300:[[ComicBook/OneMoreDay https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/amazing_spider_man_545.jpg]]

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/amazing_spider_man_545.jpg]]

!!Examples

[[folder: Comic Books]]

[[folder: Fanfiction]]

[[folder: Film]]
* ''Film/TheMask'' movie ends with Stanley seemingly having hooked up with Tina. [[Westernanimation/TheMask The animated series]] ditched the character of Tina, and both Stanley and The Mask rarely have luck in love. (and that's not counting [[Comicbook/TheMask the original comic]], where just the fact that [[spoiler:Stanley is killed by his girlfriend]] shows no one in their right minds would remain in a relationship with [[AxCrazy Big Head]]...)

[[folder: Literature]]

[[folder: Live Action TV]]

[[folder: Video Games]]

[[folder: Web Comic]]

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** Now Adverted to [[ComicBook/NickSpecersSpiderMan Nick Spencer's run]] where both Peter and MJ are back as a couple in Earth 616.

** Played straight with Johnny Storm and Alicia Masters, their marriage was undone by having Alicia [[{{Retcon}} Retconned]] to be a Skrull spy.

** Bruce himself falls squarely into this trope in nearly all incarnations. He's usually depicted as being MarriedToTheJob, and his two most famous romantic prospects are [[DatingCatwoman Catwoman]] (a professional sneak-thief) and Talia al Ghul (the daughter of one of his mortal enemies.) In 2017, however, Bruce ''proposed to Selina'', and she accepted. How this will work out long-term has yet to be seen.

** Batman's proteges suffer from this trope as well. [[ComicBook/{{Nightwing}} Dick Grayson]] and ComicBook/{{Starfire}}'s marriage ceremony in a New ComicBook/TeenTitans issue was cut short by an invasion, and later on his engagement to Barbara Gordon fizzled out for no reason at all. [[spoiler:In 2018 the relationship got rebuilt as far as another proposal, but then Dick got shot in the head, got brain damaged, and got enough LaserGuidedAmnesia that he decided to do a ScrewThisIAmOuttaHere on everything that was Nightwing, relationship to Barbara included.]]

* The only main hero in the [[Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse MCU]] who's married is ComicBook/{{Hawkeye}}. [[Film/AntMan Scott Lang]] is the only other one who is a parent. The InUniverse reason given for them not being in ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'' is as parents they took a deal to be on house arrest rather than go on the run like the rest of Team Cap after ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar''

* The only main hero in the [[Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse MCU]] who's married is ComicBook/{{Hawkeye}}.

*** Unfortunately, on July 4th, 2018, the 50th issue of Batman (2016) where Batman and Catwoman were supposed to get married has Catwoman leaving Batman at the alter fearing that by marrying him, it'll make him happy and therefore never be Batman, leaving Bruce heartbroken. The writer, Tom King, has said that this will be a 100 issue story so whether or not they get back together at the end is unknown as of now.

* The ''Film/TheAmazingSpiderManSeries'' took some serious heat for the fact [[spoiler: ILetGwenStacyDie was played straight]]. Given the fact the relationship was one of the most popular things about the pairing and it was already on the rocks, many fans were angered and thus contributed to the series reboot.

** Batman's proteges suffer from this trope as well. [[ComicBook/{{Nightwing}} Dick Grayson]] and ComicBook/{{Starfire}}'s marriage ceremony in a New ComicBook/TeenTitans issue was cut short by an invasion, and later on his engagement to Barbara Gordon fizzled out for no reason at all.

* ComicBook/DCRebirth lampshades and deconstructs this, calling out the New 52 on the throwing out of old relationships and marriages. It begins steps towards mending this by having ComicBook/{{Aquaman}} propose to his pre-Flashpoint wife Mera, and bringing [[ComicBook/GreenArrow Oliver Queen]] and [[ComicBook/BlackCanary Dinah Lance]] back together. Also, the (married) Pre-Flashpoint Superman is now the main one.[[/folder]]

* Webcomic/HeroByNight - Jack's girlfriend Roz just isn't happy being with a superhero. David's love life, from what we've seen of it, looks just as bad.

** Then during one adventure with her best friend Rachel Grey, Kitty was sent to 1936 where she met a boy named Alasdhair Kinross, the son of a Lord who eventually would become part of England's royalty. She fell in love with him quickly, at some point even entertaining the idea of staying with him on his time, however she ultimately decided it was best for her to go back ot her time. However, before leaving she agreed to become his fiancee and marry him if he was alive when she came back. Unfortunately for her ([[OldManMarryingAChild and maybe fortunately for the readers]]), Kinross had already died of old age in the present.
** Much later, she said the 'yes' to none other than [[ComicBook/StarLord Peter Quill]]. After getting to know each other and falling in love together, they got engaged and spent 8 months together. Unfortunately, the destruction of the Universe torn them apart as Kitty died but Peter survived. After the Universe was restored, they resumed their relationship. However, things finally fell apart after ComicBook/CivilWarII when Kitty left to live a normal life.

** Last, [[ComicBook/XMenGold after re-joining the X-Men]], she found herself, once again, working with her ex-boyfriend, [[ComicBook/{{Colossus}} Piotr Rasputin]]. At first, she found herself quite at peace with the fact they could only be friends. However, Piotr kept pushing her to give their relationship a new chance, until Kitty decided they neede to talk about this openly. Right there, Piotr confessed he also believed their relationship didn't make sense anymore unless they took it to the next level, proposing to her right there. Kitty asked for more time to think about it. However, after some more adventures, she accepted her feelings for him, and in turn asked him to marry her (he said 'yes'). All pointed out that this time Kitty would finally tie the knot as no shacking event designed to separated them occured until one day before the wedding. Nevertheless, the catastrophic event would occur in the form of [[ComicBook/{{Magik}} Illyana Rasputin]], best friend of Kitty and Piotr's brother, who, in a drunk rant, would tell Kitty about her doubts of her and Piotr being able to hold a happy marriage. These doubts then pushed Kitty to re-think again what she was doing, eventually leading her to leave Piotr on the altar. Much later she confessed they might never marry because the history between them was too messy and love wasn't enough. Piotr left after this, breaking their engagement and relationship for good.

* Comicbook/{{Cyclops}} married Madelyne Pryor, and their marriage went down the toilet and he became a widower soon after. He then married Jean Grey who is currently dead.

** This was the mentality behind the destruction of the Peter and Mary Jane's relationship in ''ComicBook/OneMoreDay''. We'll just say this is one of the most iconic and well-known examples in the entire genre. [[FlameBait Please refrain from adding further commentary on the subject.]]

** Spider-Man is still married in the daily comic strip.

* This was the mentality behind the destruction of the SpiderMan[=/=]Mary Jane relationship in ''ComicBook/OneMoreDay''. We'll just say this is one of the most iconic and well-known examples in the entire genre. [[FlameBait Please refrain from adding further commentary on the subject.]]
** Spider-Man is still married in the daily comic strip.

** Batman's proteges suffer from this trope as well. [[ComicBook/{{Nightwing}} Dick Grayson]] and ComicBook/Starfire's marriage ceremony in a New ComicBook/TeenTitans issue was cut short by an invasion, and later on his engagement to Barbara Gordon fizzled out for no reason at all.

** Batman's proteges suffer from this trope as well. Dick Grayson and Starfire's marriage ceremony in a New Teen Titans issue was cut short by an invasion, and later on his engagement to Barbara Gordon fizzled out for no reason at all.
** Tim Drake's long-term relationship with Stephanie Brown ended after she got brutally killed in War Games. She came back to life and they briefly restarted their relationship, but soon after she was sent back into limbo in the {{ComicBook/New 52}} reboot.

* ''LiveActionTelevision/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' and ''LiveActionTelevision/{{Angel}}'' had a series of relationships throughout the show but as of the ending of the series, ''no one'' had a stable romantic relationship and quite a few characters had suffered the deaths of a partner.
* Dexter in ''LiveActionTV/{{Dexter}}'' suffers this as his long-term love interest [[spoiler: is killed off after five seasons]], only for him to begin long term relationships with two other women [[spoiler: that don't work out.]] This is a contrast to the books where Dexter is HappilyMarried despite being a SerialKillerKiller.

* ComicBook/CaptainAmerica has rarely had a long-lasting relationship since at least the GoldenAge. In the 1980s he was with Bernie Rosenthal long enough to become officially engaged to her; however she was eventually put on a bus. In the film ''WesternAnimation/NextAvengersHeroesOfTomorrow'' [[spoiler:it is revealed he married Black Widow and had a son.]] These days, most people talk about him and ComicBook/Agent13 as the best bet, but unfortunately both them are MarriedToTheJob, so it hasn't really been played up in recent years - except for some serious drama, [[spoiler:like Sharon stabbing herself in the stomach and killing [[MySecretPregnancy the baby she had hidden from Steve]], because she had been captured by the Red Skull, the Skull figured out that she was pregnant, and she was sure he was going to use it for evil.]]

** Bruce himself falls squarely into this trope in nearly all incarnations. He's usually depicted as being MarriedToTheJob, and his two most famous romantic prospects are [[DatingCatwoman Catwoman]] (a professional sneak-thief) and Talia al Ghul (the daughter of one of his mortal enemies.) In 2017, however, the mainstream Bruce ''proposed to Selina'', and she accepted. How this will work out long-term has yet to be seen.

* The ''Film/TheAmazingSpiderManSeries'' took some serious heat for the fact [[spoiler: ILetGwenStacyDIe]] was played straight. Given the fact the relationship was one of the most popular things about the pairing and it was already on the rocks, many fans were angered and thus contributed to the series reboot.

* Dexter in LiveActionTV/{{Dexter}} suffers this as his long-term love interest [[spoiler: is killed off after five seasons]], only for him to begin long term relationships with two other women [[spoiler: that don't work out.]] This is a contrast to the books where Dexter is HappilyMarried despite being a SerialKillerKiller.

* Terry Bogard in the OVA and movie adaptations of the ''VideoGame/FatalFury'' series get this UpToTheEleven as they all end in the overly dramatic death of his love interest after he just gets over the deaths of the previous one. This is notable because the video games have him in a happy stable relationship with Blue Mary with no sign of his dead lovers.

[[caption-width-right:300: How can readers relate to ''married'' heroes!]]

Compare TrueLoveIsBoring and ShippingBedDeath, which may lead to this in more romance-focused works such as ''Series/LoisAndClark''.

* Zig-zagged with ''Literature/TheSupervillainySaga'' as Gary Karkofsky a.k.a Merciless starts HappilyMarried with his wife Mandy, only to have severe strain on his marriage occur due to his new life as a supervillainy. He also has a lot of tension reignited with his ex-fiance, Ultragoddess, and old girlfriend turned henchwoman, Cindy. Similarly, Mandy's own exes play a role in the book as well as villains attracted to her. [[spoiler: Mandy ends up killed, raised as a vampire, and then Gary has a child with Cindy due to a one-night stand while grieving. Gary gets back together with Mandy after her soul is restored but their relationship is never the same.]]

* Zig-zagged with ''Literature/TheSupevillainySaga'' as Gary Karkofsky a.k.a Merciless starts HappilyMarried with his wife Mandy, only to have severe strain on his marriage occur due to his new life as a supervillainy. He also has a lot of tension reignited with his ex-fiance, Ultragoddess, and old girlfriend turned henchwoman, Cindy. Similarly, Mandy's own exes play a role in the book as well as villains attracted to her. [[spoiler: Mandy ends up killed, raised as a vampire, and then Gary has a child with Cindy due to a one-night stand while grieving. Gary gets back together with Mandy after her soul is restored but their relationship is never the same.]]