All Girls Want Bad Boys / Comic Books

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• Parodied in Alan Ford: Mr Duls is an incredibly rich, handsome and successful business man, but he's also madly in love with Miss Boia ^note  "Boia" means executioner, but in this case indicates a terrible jerk , who vehemently rejects his love because the only thing she seeks in a man are villain credentials, to the point of throwing herself at a random crook who sought refuge from the police in her apartment with such vehemence the poor guy actually begged to be arrested. Mr Duls decides to take the secret identity of the Centurion, a centurion-themed supervillain with hi-tech gadgets and a high moral code just to win Miss Boia.
• Death: The High Cost of Living: Sexton complains that his classmate Theo is the type of asshole to cruelly kill kittens, but all the girls think he's "sex in blue jeans".
• Played with in Fantastic Four; Sue Storm is endlessly pursued by bad boy Anti-Hero Prince Namor the Sub-Mariner of Atlantis, who isn't exactly shy about letting her know that he has the hots for her, but consistently turns him down in favor of geeky, slightly clueless Reed Richards. Needless to say, the two men don't exactly have a warm friendship. Depending on who's writing her, Sue reacts to Namor's attentions with either barely-concealed sexual attraction (which is closer to the spirit of the trope, although she nevertheless continues to spurn him out of her unwavering love for Reed) or outright irritation. Interestingly, sometimes Reed is on the bad-boy side, though when Reed is bad, it tends to be more of an O.O.C. Is Serious Business or I Did What I Had to Do moment than him being 100% a Bad Boy.
• Janet Van Dyne aka The Wasp zigzags this. Originally she fell for and married Hank due to his Science Hero compassion but he eventually has Sanity Slippage and they divorced though they still slept together later even when he was more of an Anti-Hero. In Secret Wars (1984) Jan finds herself attracted to Magneto! Of all people and even makes out with him - this turns out to be a ruse though and she does actually find his Anti-Villain behaviour repellent. Oh and her most recent lover? Tony Stark.
• Downplayed in Gotham City Garage. Kara Gordon finds Jason Todd, leader of rival biker gang the Red Hoods, cute. Dick Grayson protests Jason isn't cute. He's scum.
  Dick: And this one at the head of the pack, he's gaining on me with eyes ready to kill. It's Jason Todd— you know, the lifer? The kid raised in the gang?
  Kara: Yeah, we've met. He's cute.
  Dick: I'm cute. He's the kind of scum who thinks the word scum is a compliment.
  • Played straight in Supergirl (2011) #35 as Kara's thought boxes while watching in awe as Jason is a being a Mook Horror Show strongly suggest she's getting a bit turned on by his display.
• The reason so many of the females in Batman's rogues gallery (and superteams) wind up having so much subtext with him. For the villain females, he's just good enough to spark that bit of "I could have something better" but definitely dark enough and bad enough to be similar. The same is true in reverse for the hero females... he's a hero, obviously, but of a different variety than the primary-colored icons they're otherwise surrounded by.
  • Batman is also an example of this trope inverted; he tends to go for Bad Girls (Catwoman, Poison Ivy, Talia Al-Ghul, etc). In fact, this tendency was enough to convince him in "Batman RIP" that the woman he was becoming attracted to was The Mole out to betray him to the bad guys — she was a bit too nice for him...
  • Depending on the writer, this is the definition of Harley Quinn's attraction to The Joker.
  • The New 52 has good girl Barbara Gordon surprisingly form a relationship with complete bad boy and violent Anti-Hero Jason Todd. It’s short lived though as Babs goes back to Dick soon after.
• Black Widow, with the two exceptions of Nice Guy Daredevil and to a lesser extent Hawkeye, the rest of her love interests are Anti-Heroes: Red Guardian, Winter Soldier, Iron Man and even massive Blood Knight Hercules. Taken even in further in Marvel 1602 as Nat is the Dark Mistress of Doctor Doom. Ironically averted in Nat’s 2020 series as the James father of her child (though it wasn’t a normal pregnancy) is a completely innocent man even compared to Clint or Matt.
• Daredevil: Matt Murdock's law partner Foggy Nelson ended up losing his wife Debbie to Micah Synn, a corrupt Tarzan Boy, in spite of him attempting to rape her.
• Spider-Man: Spider-Man zigzags as a Hero with Bad Publicity which causes many women to find him hot. Black Cat in particular is in love with him precisely for how dashingly dangerous he is and actually finds his Nice Guy secret identity Peter Parker painfully dull. Subverted with Mary Jane Watson and Gwen Stacy, who love Peter due to his All-Loving Hero compassion.
  • The black Symbiote Suit Spidey wore seems to invoke this, as Black Cat adored it and got Peter a cloth version after he got rid of the Alien Costume just because she liked how bad he looked in black. Even She-Hulk admits she thought Spidey looked sexy in the black suit.
  • Shriek’s attraction to Cletus Kasady is a quite literal case of In Love with Your Carnage.
  • Gender flipped with Spidey himself as he finds himself falling for bad girls like Black Cat or Silver Sable. Even Mary Jane at the time of her introduction was the partying bad girl compared to the prim and proper Gwen Stacy. Averted with villainess Adriana Soria aka the Spider Queen who selected Peter as her mate, as Spidey was disgusted by her and repeatedly rejected the Queen’s advances which really pissed her off.
• Teen Titans: The original five have this kind of thing going on. Donna could choose between the nice and shy Aqualad, funny Kid Flash, dashing Robin, and badboy Speedy. Guess who did wind up with her. Note, back then, Dick Grayson was pretty clean cut. Now, all girls flock over his dark looks, messy hair, and issues with his daddy (Bats).
  • It still bears noting that while Dick copies his mentor's dark look, he is otherwise remarkably well-adjusted (for a superhero anyway), and gets along well with literally every single superhero in the DCU, which is something even Superman isn't always capable of doing.
  • In most modern stories, one of the biggest reasons Dick is a Chick Magnet of extreme proportions is actually because of his Nice Guy charm. This even extends back to his days as Robin, when he was something of a Chivalrous Pervert.
• X-Men:
  • Kitty Pryde is an interesting example of this trope. The very first guy we see her pursuing is Colossus, a guy who is anything but bad. However, after they broke up, all her next relationships have been with guys who are either jerkasses (Iceman), scoundrels (Star-Lord), both things (Wisdom), or outright villains (Seth). Even her first crush at school was a jerkass, and the only reason she gave up on him was because the guy turned out to be anti-semitic as well.
  • Storm surprisingly invokes this more than a few times. While she is attracted to good men like Forge and T’Challa, she’s also flirted with Doctor Doom, has UST with Gambit, had sex with Wolverine, had a relationship with the arrogant Quicksilver in Age of Apocalypse and briefly became the Dark Mistress of Dracula.
  • Cyclops, while a boy scout in general, definitely fits the 'troubled aloof stoic' bad boy criteria, and is the first to point out he's dangerous to be around. Even before his recent descent into Anti-Hero badassery, he's had a steady stream of women pursuing him, including Jean Grey, Madelyne Pryor, Psylocke, and Emma Frost.
  • Mystique obviously has a thing for men as immoral as herself. She’s slept with Sabretooth, Wolverine, Big Red Devil Azrael (Nightcrawler‘s dad) and in Ultimate Marvel even Magneto. Played With though as Mystique‘s One True Love is her wife Destiny who’s quite a passive non-violent person though still a supervillain.
  • Rogue appears to go for the bad boys, or more villains trying to become heroes. Faced with a choice between gentle, earnest Joseph and slick charmer Gambit, with whom she already had a highly dysfunctional relationship, she chooses Gambit. Then Magneto comes into the picture, a reformed villain, and Gambit seems the better choice over him, but she chooses Magneto. Averted later, as Rogue Happily Married Gambit.
    • In the Uncanny Avengers, series, Deadpool seems to be another added to the list. Things seemed to be happening between her, and the sweet Johnny, but needless to say it never got far. Meanwhile, Deadpool's the one she starts getting closest to. In the recent chapter, she makes her move on him, as he tries on three separate occasions to deter her, which she shrugs off. He warns her that he digs her too much to ruin her, which he would do. She flies him above the city, and kisses him. Deadpool notes that she absorbed his crap, and she deserves better, but she says it doesn't bother her. Finally, he warns her of all the sick stuff in his head, saying she just likes him because she doesn't know him. She kisses him again. She does see bad things inside his mind, but comments that after Red Skull, Deadpool being in her head is cleansing. He says that's the most romantic thing anyone ever said to him, before they share a much longer kiss. When Rogue marries Gambit, Deadpool interrupts their honeymoon and has some UST with Rogue. Wade himself in a break from his usual jokiness admits he’s genuinely jealous of Gambit. They all part on good terms though.
  • Emma Frost definitely falls under this, as she’s had relationships with a parade of bad dudes such as Sebastian Shaw of the Hellfire Club, Cyclops during his Fallen Hero days and Namor. The irony is Emma in one comic actually criticises the aforementioned Rogue for her quote “poor taste in men”... look who’s talking.
  • Wolverine also fits the bill. He has a seemingly endless number of women after him, and he's a more straight-up bad boy. Although compared to his Ultimate X Men counterpart Logan is genuinely a good man at heart which Jean and Mariko do take note of.
  • It's apparently genetic. Wolverine's son Daken has this as well. Both women and men are attracted to his bad boy status, even without him using his powers to seduce them.
  • Logan's mother had an affair with scruffy, ugly, alcoholic and violent Thomas Logan. Her actual husband, John Howlett, was much nicer and Tall, Dark, and Handsome, but when the two die in the same incident, Logan's mother mourns Thomas, not John.
• In Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics), Fiona Fox performs a Face–Heel Turn because she prefers Sonic's Alternate Universe Evil Twin Scourge over the real hero.
  • Many female characters have shown some form of attraction towards Shadow the Hedgehog by now, even if he hasn't had a real girlfriend.
• In Superman, the gender-flipped version applies. Laid-back Clark Kent is head-over-heels for sharp-tongued, moody army brat Lois Lane and ignores cheerful, flirtatious blonde Cat Grant and sweet, caring Girl Next Door Lana Lang. Of course, Lois's heart of gold turns out to be far sweeter than those of either of the other two, so Clark's probably just very perceptive.
• In Supergirl, the titular heroine tends to fall for dark, troubled, moody guys who often turn out to be abusive or outright villainous. Finally, in a story Kara declares she's sick of bad boys and wants a real relationship with someone nice and dependable.
• Parodied in Widgey Q Butterfluff, where the closest the comic's Sugar Bowl setting has to a bad boy is poodle-poking, overgrown juvenile delinquent Buster, and Widgey still finds herself inexplicably attracted to him.
• Discussed in Journey into Mystery (Gillen) when Kid Loki gets jealous of the attention his BFF shows Walking Shirtless Scene Daimon.
  Loki: What is wrong with the pair of you?
  Leah: Bad boys. Everyone loves a bad boy.
  Loki: I'm a bad boy!
  Leah: Not actual boys.
• Thor is another male example as he’s a heroic Boisterous Bruiser who often can’t help but be attracted to the wicked Vain Sorceress Amora the Enchantress who also has the hots for him and is often very hesitant to to actually kill him, trying instead to get lure him over to her side — with little success.
• Hela is head over heels in love with the Hero Killer Mad Titan Thanos himself with his nihilistic necromania pushing all the right buttons for her as the Goddess of Death. Except Thanos’s heart belongs strictly to his “lady” and so he ultimately rejects Hela much to her outrage. Even after getting killed by his daughter Gamora, Hela seeks to resurrect Thanos, completely convinced they’re soul mates.
• Subverted in Sin City with Shellie. She dumps the abusive boyfriend Jackie Boy and goes for the much nicer Dwight McCarthy. Readers know Dwight's no angel either, as he even killed a former Femme Fatale girlfriend in a previous issue but he's still a far cry from the misogynistic scumbag that Jackie-Boy was.
• Immortal Hulk has a truly Mind Screw case of this, as in Issue #48 Betty Ross says she actually prefers Bruce’s bad boy Joe Fixit Split Personality persona over his troubled good guy identity since Joe accepts Betty in her Red-Harpy form while Bruce couldn’t stand to see her like that. She also points out it’s not technically cheating since its still Bruce’s psyche. Ironically Joe is the one to tell her they’re not right for each other, and while Betty does seems to love Joe, she’s still furious and disgusted to learn Joe left Bruce’s persona in hell at the mercy of The Leader and she soon leaves him after they have sex (in their Humanoid Abomination forms).
• Mentioned in The Punisher MAX as the reason for Kathryn O'Brien's failed marriage to certified sociopath and CIA agent William Rawlins ("failed" here meaning his chopper wasn't lifting off fast enough from the Taliban tribesmen he'd just double-crossed, so he dumped his wife in their midst to be gang-raped as a distraction) and her being attracted to other bad boy types like Tommy Monaghan and, well, Frank. Frank sometimes has this effect on women, in one case even scoring with a Mafia Princess while working for them in disguise and eliminating their rivals (she wasn't happy when she found out who he really was).
• Ultimate Marvel:
  • All-New Ultimates: Subverted. Poey is a drug dealer and is described as dark and troubled. However, she is perfectly aware of the trouble he may cause and even uses it to her advantage when her boyfriend gets caught up with a super gang. She laments that the only reason that they are together is that they are both troubled people.
  • Betty Ross was a borderline sociopathic jerkass who had no qualms about dumping and belittling Bruce, but after he goes on a rampage through Manhattan as The Hulk killing over 800 civilians while declaring his love for her, she decides to take him back with the official Marvel website directly attributing it to her being "aroused by his darker side".
  • Ultimate X Men:
    • Jean Grey flat out tells Wolverine that, regardless of Xavier's belief in redemption, she doesn't trust him or want him at the Mansion: he's been scarred by the horrors of his Dark and Troubled Past and his work as a former government assassin, and she can't read his mind to confirm her obvious suspicions that he's not nearly as committed to Xavier's cause as he pretends to be. Wolverine doesn't really have to say much else: two panels later, they're making out and she's in bed with him in the next issue. This didn't last, because when she did find out his reasons for joining, she attacked him violently and stuck with Scott from then on.
    • Storm's original lover was Amahl Farouk, who would go on to become From Nobody to Nightmare villain the Shadow King. Later Storm begins a romance with Wolverine, seeing him as a Replacement Goldfish to Farouk (something she doesn't realize until her reunion with her former lover). After Farouk's death, Ororo declares that she is "done with bad boys".
    • Gender Inverted example, as Dazzler is a bad girl and the polite Angel fell in love with her.
• Star Wars (Marvel 2015): A female medical technician catches sight of Darth Vader without his mask, and becomes convinced that he showed her his face intentionally; furthermore than she and she alone can see the real man beneath the armor and evil. She even breaks into his meditation chamber to make an Anguished Declaration of Love - after which Vader runs her through with his lightsaber without a second thought, then calls the maintenance crew to dispose of her corpse.

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