Undying Loyalty / Comic Books

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• Atomic Robo: Jenkins's loyalty to Robo is absolute. It's not just gratitude to Robo for rescuing him from the Vampire Dimension; it's that unlike the shady government conspiracy he used to work for, which took a decidedly We Have Reserves attitude that led to Jenkins being the Sole Survivor of the team sent into the Vampire Dimension, Robo leads from the front and looks out for his people. Even when Jenkins is infected with vampirism, his final words and actions are passing down the duty of looking out for Robo to ALAN, and demanding that ALAN Mercy Kill him before he turns.
• Batman:
  • The Caped Crusader has had his ups and downs throughout the years, and had his scrapes with many a hero, but he will never be abandoned by Alfred. Well, usually. Sometimes Batman's jerkiness is too much for him and he'll leave for a time. "Venom" and "Officer Down" are two such stories where this happened. Sometimes, Alfred quits when Bruce has decided to ruthlessly risk his own life only for his stubbornness. Alfred said that he would not allow him to destroy himself and so, by abandoning Batman he could show his true loyalty to him.
  • Batman notes that Tim Drake's loyalty is his prime motivation, and his loyalty to his father caused his 10-Minute Retirement. So when Batman apparently dies, he goes Darker and Edgier, and tries to prove he is alive. Undying loyalty doesn't change regardless of who dies.
  • In the story arc "Death of the Family", the Joker's torment of the Batfamily via Joker venom has shaken them physically and caused a great loss of faith in each other and in themselves. So when Bruce calls a meeting, no one except Alfred attends. However, outside the Wayne Manor, someone still stands, the first Robin, Dick Grayson.
• If any Marvel Universe hero inspires and has this as a defining trait, it's Captain America. Every single hero worth his salt in the Marvel U trusts Cap unconditionally, cause Cap will go through hell and back to not leave any of them behind. Even someone as hard to work with as The Incredible Hulk has Cap as the one person he'd never raise a finger to.
  • Cap himself has undying loyalty to not America as a nation but rather America's ideals. When the government has asked him to do things that he felt were against those ideals, he's either quit being Captain America or gone rogue.
    Captain America: I'm loyal to nothing, General... except the Dream.
• Superman:
  • In "The Super Dog from Krypton", Krypto is taken away from his baby owner, shoved into a rocket and blasted off into space. Krypto spends around fifteen years stuck in his hip until finally crashing on Earth, and still when he smells young Clark, pounces on him and starts licking his face happily.
  • Not even being cloned makes Krypto less loyal to his masters. In Power Girl (2009):
    Max Lord: We talked about this! Don't clone the dog! Dogs are weird! The whole loyalty thing just seems to be branded right in on a genetic level, for Pete's sake!
  • Extreme loyalty to Superman is one of Jimmy Olsen's foremost (and most well-known) qualities. It usually takes an Elseworlds story for it not to apply. From sacrificing multiple opportunities to learn his Secret Identity, to helping him with criminals armed with Kryptonite, to standing up to a fully-powered Kryptonian to ensure the currently-powerless Superman was protected (in Superman (1939) #172), Jimmy's loyalty to Supes trumps any sacrifice or risk it might involve. In Superman: Truth, Jimmy stands by Superman's side after his identity is revealed to the entire world (it probably helps that Supes revealed his identity to him just prior to the shit hitting the fan). Jimmy also shows that there's an entire neighborhood who is happy to have Superman around and renamed their area as "Kentville".
• Green Lantern: Dexter of the Red Lantern Corps is a former housecat who actually became an Anti-Hero/Anti-Villain out of sheer loyalty to his former owner.
  Dexter: I find ones who hurt you. I kill. I good kitty.
• Doctor Strange:
  • Wong, Strange's manservant and friend, is his one constant companion. He even sticks around after Strange relinquishes the title of Sorcerer Supreme and joins the New Avengers.
  • Wong's loyalty is most assuredly returned. In the story, Doctor Strange: The Oath, Strange goes through great lengths to save his manservant when he discovers Wong is suffering from an inoperable brain tumor.
• DuckTales: In "Down But Not Out in Duckburg", Scrooge comes home to discover that Glomgold has gotten control of all his businesses and even the city in his absence. Despite the fact that he's now just a poor old man, the others stick with him until he finds a way to restore the status quo.
• This one panel strip.
• In Tintin album Cigars of the Pharaoh, Loyal Animal Companion Snowy thinks that Tintin is dead, so he resigns himself to spending the rest of his life at his grave.
• Richie Rich's butler, Cadbury. Try to bribe him, and you're entering Bullying a Dragon territory. Emphasized in one story where a foreign government did it to test him because they wanted to offer him a position as Prime Minister; he turned down the offer because he felt the test only showed he was needed in his current job.
• Harley Quinn to her "puddin'". Of course given that this is the Joker we're talking about it is not returned. Death of the Family subverts it. She ends up fighting back, and escapes him. She also declares that while she may love him, that does not mean that she belongs to him.
• In Star Wars Legacy, this is expected of all of the One Sith towards their Dark Lord, Darth Krayt, and his cause. In practice, however, considering how ambition is a cardinal Sith trait, the main Sith characters tend to interpret this very differently:
  • Darth Talon is easily the most loyal to Krayt personally; she makes it plain she'd kill herself if she thought he needed her to and after he comes Back from the Dead, she's the first he contacts.
  • Darth Stryfe is totally loyal to the position of Dark Lord, which normally means Krayt, and he's not exactly shy about making sure everyone knows. However, when Krayt and Wyyrlok fight it out for the title, Stryfe stays out of it, assuming that whoever wins will be the superior leader. When that's Krayt, Stryfe reaffirms his loyalty.
  • Darth Maladi is more ambiguous; she's loyal to Krayt, but unlike the above two she's perfectly willing to question his judgment or operate independently for a time if it suits her. At the end of the day, though, everything she does is ultimately put to the use of Krayt's cause, though Krayt himself thinks Maladi would do it all for its own sake anyway.
  • Darth Nihl defies this; he was an independant warlord before he was a Sith, and he's loyal to Krayt only for the power he grants his followers and fairly openly questions him and schemes against him. When Krayt dies his final death, Nihl immediately takes command, has Krayt's Elite Mooks killed when they object, and gets the heck out of dodge.
  • Darth Wyyrlok III is easily the most interesting. He is absolutely loyal — to the Sith cause, which Krayt and everyone else takes to mean loyalty to Krayt himself. Not quite. When Krayt goes into an extended Villainous Breakdown, Wyyrlok decides he's become a liability, promptly kills him off, and takes command himself, all in the name of the greater glory of the Sith. Pity for Wyyrlok that Krayt Came Back Strong.
• It's rather disturbing to see how unflinchingly loyal most of the minions of the Red Skull are to their horrible monster of a boss. Of course, most of them are almost as evil as him. The most notable example of this is Crossbones, who hero-worships Red Skull, searched constantly for him when Magneto abducted him and nursed him back to health despite Skull being on the verge of suicide, and made it his mission to kill and destroy as much of America as he could after Skull's apparent death.
• Time may pass, and hearts may break, but Victor Fries will always be a married man.
• In the Transformers: Shattered Glass universe, Starscream is not just loyal, but almost disturbingly devoted to the heroic Megatron.
• Doctor Aphra is absolutely devoted to Darth Vader. Not just out of fear (though there is a fair helping of that), but also because she's a massive fangirl. She continues to serve him, even knowing that he'll probably eliminate her eventually; in fact, she fully expects it, and at the end of their first mission together outright tells him to do it because she's now too much of a security risk, calling him stupid to his face when he refuses.
• Teen Titans: Cassie Sandsmark in the New 52 initially starts out as a more self-interested character, but slowly starts to become quite loyal, supportive, and fiercely protective of Tim Drake. She's always by his side, is more than willing to comfort him if needed, and acts as his trusty right-hand girl during missions. In Teen Titans #8, Cassie vehemently refuses to leave Tim in the clutches of Omen and attempts to break him out of the air chamber he's trapped in without a second thought. Even with the possibility of her perishing in direct result of breaking the bubble, Cassie still tries her hardest to save Tim out of her genuine devotion to him.
• Wonder Woman: Even in times when Diana is considered dead or has been framed all mainstream versions of Steve Trevor (outside of The New 52) will always take her side, no matter how dangerous it is for him to do so.
• Ziggy Pig - Silly Seal Comics: Even though Ziggy Pig has completely ignored and avoided Silly Seal during their decades apart, Silly remains a loyal and loving friend, and has kept Ziggy as a beneficiary in his will after all these years.

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