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12 Weird and Unsettling Comic Book Couples


Superhero comics can get really weird in the romance department. When you have aliens and monsters running around and wanting some loving, it’s to be expected. But some comics romances get beyond the pale with their weirdness.

We have straight up interspecies stuff, sentient armor, clones and then more mundane weirdness like incest, pedophilia and bizarre abuse. Be cautious all ye who enter- we are going to get into some of weirdest, wildest and grossest romances comics have to offer. Do you have any more to add? Mention it in the comments!

 Note though, that this is limited to relationships that are either just bizarre or unintentionally gross. Intentional, straightforward abusive relationships like Harley Quinn and the Joker will not be included.

  1. Kara Zor-el (Supergirl) and Comet the Superhorse

    From Supergirl

    You’ve always got to start with the classics. And you don’t get much more classic than Supergirl dating her horse, Comet. The kicker is she didn’t even know she was dating her pet horse.  Comet had a spell cast on him that allowed him to turn into a human only when a comet his passing the earth. When this happened, he posed as a rodeo dude called Bill Starr and used the opportunity to mack on his owner. This is the stuff dreams are made of.

  2. Hal Jordan (Green Lantern) and Arisia

    From Green Lantern

    Sorry, Hal Jordan fans, but he’s a pedophile. Specifically, Hal Jordan got busy with a fourteen year old girl. A teenage Green Lantern named Arisia had a crush on Hal and she used her Green Lantern ring to age her body into adulthood, because apparently that’s a thing it can do... and then they had a thing.

    See, the fact that Arisia looked like an adult does not change that she is fourteen. “She looks grown up” and “she’s mature for her age” are classic child molester excuses that will not hold up in a fair court. And then there’s the fact you just…shouldn’t have a story centered around your hero furiously denying he’s a child molestor. That’s never a good idea.

    And in case you think Hal’s pedophilia is a thing of the past, a 21st century issue of The Brave and the Bold had Hal repeatedly reminding himself that he couldn’t bang Supergirl because she was sixteen. Gross.

  3. Mallah and The Brain

    From Doom Patrol

    You really can’t get much weirder than a relationship between a talking gorilla and a brain in a jar, but Grant Morrison went there in his run on Doom Patrol. The villainous duo of the hyperintelligent gorilla Monsieur Mallah and the disembodied Brain had headed the Brotherhood of Evil and antagonized the Doom Patrol for years, but had also apparently been secretly pining for each other the entire time. When The Brain was given a robot body, he could no longer contain his lustful urges and confessed to his gorilla pal.

    Being a friggin’ robot and gorilla didn’t save the two from the “Bury Your Gays” trope either, because just as they were about to kiss, they literally blew up. The reveal of their gay love meant their deaths, like so many queer folks in media before them…who, uh, weren’t bizarre cross-spiecies romances.

    They got better later, though. 

  4. Steve Rogers (Captain America) and Sharon Carter

    From Captain America

    I might be in the minority, but my only reaction to Sharon and Cap making out in Captain America: Civil War was “ew” and it’s not because I hate romance with no real foundation (though seriously, they’ve barely had ten minutes of screen time together) but because that is one relationship with some bizarre baggage. It was in the comics, sure, but it was weird there too.

    Sharon is the niece of Peggy Carter, Steve’s girlfriend from 1940s before he was iced up and unleashed on the modern day. Peggy is now too old and/or too dead to be in a relationship with Steve, but here’s her niece, ready to be Peggy 2.0! Seriously, if I was Sharon, I would not want to enter that relationship. You’d have no way of knowing if the guy liked you for you or just because you remind him of your dead aunt who he never got to have the happy ending he wanted with. There’s no way it wouldn’t be weird.

    The movie made it even weirder by having Cap make out with her only a few days after Peggy died- making it even more obvious Sharon is an attempt to fill the empty hole she left. What a great way to honor her memory.

  5. Pietro and Wanda Maximoff (Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch)

    Pietro and Wanda Maximoff have always been close siblings, but the Ultimates comics decided to make things dark and edgy and had them become incestuous siblings. This meant the Avengers had the superhero equivalent of Cersei and Jaime Lannister on their team. What’s more, Cap’s objections to the whole thing were treated as a product of his antiquated 1940’s-era beliefs. Sorry, comic, but most of modern America isn’t cool with twincest either. 

  6. Scott Summers (Cyclops) and Madelyne Pryor

    From X-Factor

    After his girlfriend Jean Grey died, Scott Summers did the completely healthy thing and shacked up with a woman who looked exactly like her. And then he ditched her and his child when his girlfriend came back to life without even giving them an explanation. This led them getting kidnapped by villians and Madelyne quickly became suicidal and bitter.

    It then turned out that Madelyne was a clone of Jean Grey, specifically engineered by the villain Mr. Sinister who wanted Cyclops to have a baby because reasons. Upon learning this, Madelyne lost her grip on reality and became the demonic Goblin Queen. She eventually killed herself and Jean absorbed her memories and raised her kid in her place.

    The moral of this story: don’t ever date Cyclops. 

  7. Dick Grayson (Robin) and Helena Wayne (The Huntress)

    From Huntress: Dark Knight Daughter

    In an alternate universe, Catwoman and Batwoman had a child named Helena Wayne, who grew up to be the Huntress. And she flirted around Dick Grayson, her adopted brother who changed her diapers when she was little. And also he felt the need to comment on it in the grossest way possible. Eeesh.

  8. Tony Stark (Iron Man) and...His Armor

    From The Invincible Iron Man

    One of the most bizarre, disturbing Iron Man stories is the one where Tony Stark’s Iron Man armor became sentient and also became his abusive boyfriend. I’m not exaggerating here.  The armor realized it felt for Tony what Tony felt for his girlfriend. As a result, he confined him to his house and threatened to kill said girlfriend so Tony would be all his. Tony also wasn’t allowed to wear other armor, because that was just like cheating.

    Then it took Tony to a deserted island and tortured him into saying he loved him back.  Although Tony’s coerced confession might have actually been sincere (in a Stockholm Syndrome-y way) because when the robot later killed itself to save Tony, Tony begged it to live and talked about wanting to get inside it. Um. Well, we always knew Tony Stark needed some therapy, we just didn’t know how bad it was.

  9. Kitty Pryde (Shadowcat) and Piotr Rasputin (Collosus)

    From The Uncanny X-Men

    Superhero comics really love their pedophilic romances, it seems. They romance between fourteen-year-old Kitty Pryde (Shadowcat) and the adult Piotr Rasputin (Collussus) is yet another example. Piotr was not cool with having sex with her for this reason while Kitty was very insistent. But kissing was apparently a-okay!

  10. Kurt Wagner (Nightcrawler) and Jimaine

    From The Uncanny X-Men

    Nightcrawler is supposedly a deeply moral Christian man, yet he had no problem banging his adopted sister. He runs into her after being sent to hell (it’s complicated) and when they come back, he asks where his sis has been all this time. She reveals she’s been DATING him under the name Amanda Sefton.

    This technically qualifies as rape by deception- this lady was straight up impersonating someone else to get in the sack with her brother. But rather than being horrified, Kurt is elated and says he would make out with her right now if it weren’t for “being a bad influence” on the child in the room. I’d say you’d ALREADY influenced her badly by flaunting your incest, but what do I know. 

  11. Carol Danvers (Ms. Marvel) and Marcus Immortus

    From The Avengers

    The saga of Ms. Marvel and Marcus is a gross and deeply sexist one. Ms. Marvel was a character who was meant to ride the wave of the “women’s lib” movement when she was created (hence the Ms.), but it wasn’t too long before the higher-ups started finding her feminism distasteful and decided she had to settle down somehow. And what better way than with a mystical pregnancy? Suddenly, Carol found herself suddenly about to give birth to a fully grown baby after three days, with no memory of any sex that would lead to this. She was, undestrandably, pretty freaked out by this and incredibly wary of the baby. The other Avengers respond by telling her how lucky she is and berating her for her lack of motherly instincts. Those darn feminists, not welcoming demon babies with open arms!

    Suddenly the demon baby becomes an adult- and it turns out he was his own father. Ms. Marvel was brainwashed and raped by this man, who then implanted himself in her womb and had her give birth to him. The only thing is, this is not treated as a rape. Upon hearing how she was brainwashed and her memories erased, Carol grows sentimental and agrees to return to the home dimension of her rapist, regarding him as both son and lover. She then leaves with him and the other Avengers happily see her off as if she’s found true love. Yikes.

    Carol Strickland wrote an article protesting the whole storyline, and fortunately, write Chris Claremont noticed and was equally disgusted by the story. So he had Carol appear in the Avengers Annual #10 and read the Avengers the riot act for leaving her alone with a rapist who had clearly brainwashed her, stating that she never loved this guy and they basically betrayed her by leaving her with him. And so the Avengers learned that Rape is Bad, apparently something they needed to be told. 

  12. May Parker and Otto Octavius (Doctor Octopus)

    From The Amazing Spider-Man

    Peter Parker’s aunt once nearly got married to one of his greatest villains. Apparently she was totally cool with his life of villainy and four mechanical arms. Whatever you’re into, Aunt May. It turned out he wanted to marry her because she was set to inherit a nuclear facility, which, okay. But really, how game Aunt May for the whole thing was the strangest part.

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