Line #5 FanPreferredCouple/ComicBooks


1	%%This trope needs a canon couple to overshadow for it to count. The canon/ones with no canon couples to compete with are removed. The ones without mentioning them are hidden/rewritten. If you want to unhide one please add a canon couple or come to this thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=14860997890A40152400&page=1
2	* ''ComicBook/ArchieComics'': A lot of people forget or are unaware that Archie and Veronica were the original OfficialCouple; it's only because of readers viewing Betty as being a better match for him that BettyAndVeronica even became a ''question''. The newspaper comic version does a much better job of emphasizing Archie/Veronica, but this still just doesn't help at all. During the last couple of decades, the writers have tried to make the triangle more even; Betty gets about as many dates with Archie, and Veronica has several other (one-shot) boyfriends.
3	* ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'':
4	** Many fans love [[ComicBook/{{Nightwing}} Dick]] [[Characters/{{Nightwing}} Grayson]] and [[ComicBook/BirdsOfPrey Barbara]] [[Characters/{{Batgirl}} Gordon]] together ([[BettyAndVeronica excepting]] the [[ComicBook/TeenTitans Dick/Starfire]] [[ShipToShipCombat fanbase]], that is). They've gone back and forth between being canon or not, but usually the two are incredibly close. While both had new love interests for a long while in the New 52 there was always tons of ShipTease whenever the two interacted, and it seemed the writers for everything the two appeared in very much wanted the two together but just weren't allowed or something. The only love interest who got even a slight degree of support was Helena Bertinelli, who ''was'' in a relationship with Dick Pre-Flashpoint, and even ''then'' it was considered nice for a ''temporary'' romance, and as part of the FishOutOfWater nature of Dick's series.
5	** Cassandra Cain, her most popular pairing from Cassandra/Stephanie, whose following, in itself, surpasses any of her canon love interests put together.
6	** Bruce himself has had many girlfriends over time, yet the woman ''most'' fans want to see him with is Selina Kyle, Catwoman. Notably, the Golden Age versions of them ''were'' together and even had a daughter, Helena Wayne (the original Huntress), who has endured in the mainstream comics in spite of anything else that happens. Over recent years, Selina being presented as Batman's one true love has received a major boost in mainstream works--from the Dark Knight trilogy, to the Arkham video games, to the Gotham TV series, and finally to the comics themselves, this couple has received the same kind of fundamentally important treatment as other comic couple standbys like Lois/Clark or Barry/Iris. [[spoiler: So it was particularity [[CriticalBacklash egregious]] for Bruce/Selina fans that after announcing that Batman and Catwoman would get married Tom King the writer back-peddled in Batman #50 with Selina being the RunawayBride, with the crappy justification of "Batman can't be Batman if he's HappilyMarried" aka StatusQuoIsGod.]]
7	* ''ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse'': Due to his relationship with Daisy being rather rocky at best, WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck has a few of these, the most notable being the one with Reginella, queen of the planet Pacificus, who he first encountered in the 1972 story "Donald Duck in the Underwater Adventure". She is considered a preferred option due her sweet nature, her tragic character, and being the one who actually has a chance (and would have already won ''four times'' [[StarCrossedLovers had something not always forced their separation]]), and is still popular enough to have [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsj6BZJFtsw a song dedicated to her]] and to receive new stories once every few years. The fact that ''[[ShipperOnDeck Scrooge approves]]'' certainly helps.
8	* ''ComicBook/TheFlash'': Wally West has had several love interests in the past, both the comics and out of them, but fans of the character pretty much unanimously ship him with his long-time wife, Linda Park. So much so that them being apart in the ''ComicBook/DCRebirth'' era caused a lot of controversy and is generally seen as a big example of how DC messed up his return by refusing to let the two reunite. They were such a well-regarded couple that [[Series/TheFlash2014 the TV Series']] versions of the characters are shipped together despite ''never interacting'' and the fact Linda was a RomanticFalseLead for Barry instead is seen as a huge TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter by fans of the comics.
9	* ''ComicBook/{{Hawkeye}}'': Hawkeye and ComicBook/{{Mockingbird}}, even after breaking up, are vastly preferred to the pairing of Hawkeye and Comicbook/SpiderWoman. Hawkeye and Mockingbird were married to each other for most of the 1980s and the early 1990s, before her apparent death in battle. She has been Hawkeye's longest-lasting relationship, even though their marriage explored their ideological differences and had plenty of conflict.
10	* ''ComicBook/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica'': ComicBook/{{Batman}} and ComicBook/{{Superman}} are both canonically paired with Catwoman and Lois Lane respectively, but a large group of fans ship them together instead, due to the pair's very close friendship and them being the most well-known DC heroes. On most sites, Bruce/Clark easily outrank any of their canon ones.
11	* ''ComicBook/JusticeLeagueInternational'': [[ComicBook/BlueBeetle Ted Kord]] has multiple canon love interests, most notably Melody Case, but most fans prefer to ship him with ComicBook/BoosterGold due to their close friendship and feeling that they have better chemistry.
12	* ''ComicBook/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'': An interesting situation occurs in the comic since many fans wanted Zayne to hook up with [[ActionGirl Jarael]] instead of his more obvious love interest, Shel. The reason this is an interesting situation is because [[spoiler:Zayne and Jarael become a couple in the last issue, thus making this a rare example of the FanPreferredCouple ''turning into'' the OfficialCouple]].
13	%%* ''ComicBook/LenoreTheCuteLittleDeadGirl'': Lenore and [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Ragamuffin]] and ''how''. To the point where most fanart and fanfiction involve the two of them. It doesn't help that they have a bucket filled with NoYay, especially in the original comics.
14	* ''ComicBook/TheMightyThor'': The "mightiest" pairing is easily the HoYay[=/=]NotBloodSiblings-Yay of [[FoeYayShipping Thor/Loki]]. This is most likely because they're the two most established characters in the series, and have a few really heartwarming moments that the shippers run with. Plus, on the het side, the Thor/Jane (or Don/Jane, it's gotten confusing) Thor/Sif, and Thor/Amora shippers are too busy fighting with each other to deal with Thor/Loki shippers.
15	* ''ComicBook/MsMarvel'': ComicBook/CarolDanvers, the original ''Ms. Marvel'' and current ''Captain Marvel'', became a potential love interest for Spider-Man following ''One More Day''. After Spidey got her to go on a date with him, the two grow to be close friends (they bonded over a shared love of New York street food) and a battle where the Venom symbiote took control of her for a bit and hinted his crush on her was mutual. While it went nowhere because Spider-Man's then writer, Dan Slott, was against it, they remain good friends, and there is still a dedicated fanbase for the two - Carol's successor as Ms. Marvel, Kamala Khan, [[ShipperOnDeck openly ships them]], to Spidey's bafflement.
16	* ''ComicBook/TheSandman1989'': While Dream has multiple canon romances, including Calliope, Nada and Thessaly, most fans ship him with Hob Gadling instead, due to the HoYay between them and Hob being a fan favorite.
17	* ''ComicBook/ScottPilgrim'': Scott/Wallace is arguably the most popular pairing in the entire franchise despite Scott having canonical relationships with four different women and Wallace having a canonical relationship with Mobile (and with Todd in [[Anime/ScottPilgrimTakesOff the anime]]). It probably helps that Scott is already living with Wallace and sleeping in his bed at the start of the story and Wallace is generally the most supportive of all Scott's friends.
18	%%* ''Comicbook/SpiderGirl'': May and Wes and before the ShipSinking, [[spoiler:May/Normie]].
19	* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'':
20	** Spider-Man[=/=]ComicBook/MaryJaneWatson. Mary Jane's relationship with Peter was mostly written out of the books following ''ComicBook/OneMoreDay'', and different love interests have been brought in to be Peter's romantic partner since (like Deb Whitman or Carlie Cooper). However, Mary Jane is still popular with many fans and from the very start of their relationship, many fans have preferred Peter to be with MJ. The duo remain a couple in some places, however, such as the ''ComicStrip/SpiderMan'' newspaper strip and the alternate universe ''ComicBook/TheAmazingSpiderManRenewYourVows''. The main universe version of Peter and MJ eventually got back together when Nick Spencer took over the writing of ''Amazing Spider-Man'' in 2018.
21	** Back when ComicBook/GwenStacy was still Peter's official love interest, Mary Jane Watson's unexpectedly huge popularity with the readers was a serious problem for Stan Lee and John Romita. They tried a lot of things to tone MJ down and make Gwen more "exciting", which in some respects only lampshaded their problem as it made Gwen more and more resemble MJ, most notably by changing her original hairstyle into a variant of Mary Jane's. Stan Lee ended up writing later that even he slowly began to find Gwen less interesting than MJ.
22	** Creator/GerryConway who succeeded Lee was a fan who ended up RunningTheAsylum (he was 19 when he wrote Spider-Man). He like the majority of older fans preferred MJ to Gwen, and so he wrote ''ComicBook/TheNightGwenStacyDied'' which was all about getting rid of Peter's bland DesignatedLoveInterest for as Conway put it, "the most interesting female character in comics at the time" and Peter and MJ under his pen became ''the'' OfficialCouple, which later went into adaptations where MJ often has AdaptationalEarlyAppearance and is set up as Peter's number 1 girl right from the start. It should be noted that one of the more well-liked ''Spider-Man'' animated adaptations, ''WesternAnimation/TheSpectacularSpiderMan'', would have had Peter and MJ as the OfficialCouple but for most of the first two seasons played with the LoveDodecahedron of the comics.
23	** In the ComicBook/UltimateMarvel universe, many fans prefer to see Peter paired with his one-time girlfriend ComicBook/KittyPryde due to having more in common and better chemistry with her than his DesignatedLoveInterest Mary Jane.
24	** After the team up comic ''ComicBook/SpiderManDeadpool'', the Spideypool ( ComicBook/SpiderMan x ComicBook/{{Deadpool}}) pairing really took off and is easily more popular than any of Deadpool's canon romances. Due to their developing friendship and the huge amount of HoYay between the two. Including the two being "heartmates" and being friends in their old age. They have [[https://archiveofourown.org/tags/Peter%20ParkersWade%20Wilson/works the second most fanfics]] together on Website/ArchiveOfOurOwn for any Spider-Man media, after the platonic one between Peter and Tony, and the most for any Deadpool media.
25	* ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'': Owing to a series of continuity reboots, Superman has zigzagged all over with FanPreferredCouple status. When the ComicBook/New52 launched, for the first time in the decades-long history of the characters, ComicBook/LoisLane and Superman were the Fan Preferred Couple, as he was paired with with ComicBook/WonderWoman instead of his classic love interest. Wonder Woman/Superman had a staunch foundation of supporters, and furthermore had been teased as a pairing for many years, besides being an OfficialCouple in various Main/{{Elseworlds}} stories. This departure from classic Superman--among others--proved ultimately to be more unpopular than not, so DC brought back the original Superman and Lois into the New 52 Universe for ComicBook/DCRebirth, which [[spoiler:saw the seeming death of ''New 52'' Superman and Lois, only for ''ComicBook/SupermanReborn'' to reveal that they were still alive, that Superman and Lois were split into their pre-''Flashpoint'' and ''New 52'' selves, and upon the halves of both Clark and Lois remerging, and history being altered closer to the pre-''Flashpoint'' one (including the Superman/Wonder Woman being {{Retgone}}d.]]
26	** Outside New 52 and Rebirth (mostly), Wonder Woman is frequently shipped with Batman as a good number of fans prefer the [[MasculineGirlFeminineBoy Goddess and mortal man]] dynamic over the God and Goddess status with Supes and Diana, especially since Batman isn't usually put in the same situation as Steve Trevor in the comics. The clash between a godly heroine who has no qualms about killing and a dark AntiHero who [[ThouShallNotKill refuses]] to kill makes for good chemistry, it's also helped by Bruce and Diana's relationship in the ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' cartoon which was one of the best parts of the show. Interestingly Batman and Wonder Woman's Earth 3 counterparts Owlman and Superwoman are an [[UnholyMatrimony item]] so even their evil AlternateUniverse opposites get the hint. A few comics pull the MayflyDecemberRomance and have the ageless Diana look after a dying Bruce which is quite the TearJerker.
27	* ''ComicBook/TeenTitans:''
28	** ComicBook/{{Nightwing}} and ComicBook/{{Starfire}}, which naturally causes friction with the Batman fandom. Kory and Dick were consistently portrayed with a supportive, loving relationship that enabled both of them to grow as characters, and the ship quickly became an iconic comic book couple. Fans of the ship were ''not'' happy at the [[ComicBook/TheDarkening infamous break-up of their wedding]] and are even less happy at the constant downgrading of Dick and Kory's relationship in modern comics in favor of Barbara Gordon. Thanks in part to continued ShipTease in comics, the [[WesternAnimation/TeenTitans 2003 cartoon]], and the [[Series/Titans2018 ongoing live-action show]], the ship still has a massive fanbase who would love to see them get together again for good.
29	** Just try finding a fan who ships [[ComicBook/WonderGirl Donna Troy]] with her (late) husband, Terry Long. You might find a few people who still defend the wedding issue of New Teen Titans as a classic; but Terry's demanding behavior, coupled with the large age gap between the pair, meant that the ship itself quickly became CondemnedByHistory. No one was upset when the two divorced, or when Terry eventually died. Creator/MarvWolfman thought that Donna would be happiest with an older man, but fans did not agree, and preferred seeing Donna with either [[Character/ArsenalRoyHarper Roy Harper]] or [[Franchise/GreenLantern Kyle Rayner]] (a ship that Wolfman himself hated).
30	** ComicBook/BeastBoy[=/=]ComicBook/{{Raven}} is very popular, particularly given the overlap between fans of the comics and fans of the 2003 cartoon. They've been on and off for several years; while attempts have been made to pair the two with other characters, none of them have really stuck, and it's far and away the most popular pairing for both characters.
31	** Despite the lengthy romantic development between [[Characters/SupermanConnerKent Conner Kent/Superboy]] and [[Characters/WonderGirlCassieSandsmark Cassie/Wonder Girl]] as a relationship, bubbling from the pages of ''ComicBook/YoungJustice'' and into ''ComicBook/TeenTitans2003'', fans would rather prefer shipping Conner with Tim Drake instead, in a case that's probably the most popular HoYay fan ship in DC's existence. Borders onto OfficialCouple status when it's confirmed that Tim himself has feelings for Conner in ''Dark Crisis: Young Justice'' (not to mention his behaviour during ComicBook/RedRobin).
32	** [=FlameOmen=]: As a result of Bette Kane's return to the Flamebird mantle during ''ComicBook/DawnOfDC'' (specifically, the anthology ''DC's Legion of Bloom'') bringing a brand new popularity to the character, one major ship to come out is the pairing of ComicBook/{{Flamebird}} and Omen (aka Lilith Clay) as a result of fans rereading Bette's appearances and noticing her LesYay tendencies towards Lilith (as well as Lilith being a {{Tsundere}} in general).
33	* ''ComicBook/XMen'':
34	** For a long time ComicBook/{{Wolverine}}[=/=]ComicBook/JeanGrey was a lot more popular than the well-established, long-term ComicBook/{{Cyclops}}/Jean Grey. The love triangle was popular enough to persist in most adaptations of the characters, but once Cyclops hooked up with ComicBook/EmmaFrost, and Jean Grey stayed dead for a longer time than she stayed alive, the ball was thrown back up into the air as to what was preferred. In 2010s stories, Marvel eventually killed off both Wolverine and Cyclops, meaning that all three members of the triangle were dead. In late 2017/early 2018, Marvel announced surprise resurrections for both Jean and Wolverine, with Scott eventually being resurrected in 2019 as well.
35	** In ''ComicBook/XMan'', one of the strangest versions of this emerged with Nate Grey (the titular X-Man) and Maddie Pryor. Nate's surname (and being Cable's counterpart) should clue you into the beginning of the weirdness - but that was just the tip of the iceberg. The {{UST}} was gleefully played up by the writers, and Maddie became an ''epic'' scale {{Tsundere}}: she murdered Nate's other girlfriend at the time, Threnody, and her very existence initially required her feeding on his psychic energy. Nate was disturbed when he found out who she was, but that didn't stop her. Oh no. Just take a look at the... ''suggestive''
36	** While subject to almost as much ShipToShipCombat as her [[Comicbook/{{Wolverine}} daddy]], the majority of fans of ComicBook/{{X 23}} still resent Marjorie Liu splitting up X and Hellion during the Baby Sitting arc of her solo series, and mentioning that arc is certain to cause much gnashing of teeth. ''Especially'' after Creator/BrianMichaelBendis hamfistedly tossed her together with [[Comicbook/AllNewXMen O5!Angel]], despite them having had no prior interaction before he hooked them up.
37	%%** Like many other comic book examples, ComicBook/{{Rogue}} and ComicBook/{{Gambit}} used to be an item, and after the writers split them up in the '00s they continued to be preferred by the fans. Usually one of the first questions a new writer for one of these characters gets is "Are you going to hook them back up yet?" In this case, Gambit and Rogue have had an on-again-off-again since the early 1990s, and are considered one of the most memorable couples in the entire franchise. A number fans prefer Rogue's MentorShip relationship with ComicBook/{{Magneto}} but everybody else were less eager to accept the idea of Rogue choosing an aged tyrant over a sexy thief. One memorable depiction was ''ComicBook/XMen1991'' #41 (February 1995). Earth-616 is dying (it got better) and its characters are erased. While expecting certain death, Gambit and Rogue spend their last moments kissing and embracing each other.
38	%%*** Marvel finally gave into the shippers and [[HappilyMarried hitched]] Gambit and Rogue in ''ComicBook/XMenGold'' #30, making them X-Men's longest enduring couple since the 90s.

Context FanPreferredCouple / ComicBooks