Romance in Comics: Weddings
In comics, a wedding isn't always just some moment they forget about - sometimes they lead to lasting controversy
In comics, one of the most iconic aspects of a character is their romantic partner. Superman and Lois Lane, Spider-Man and Mary Jane Watson, The Flash and Iris West, Hulk and Betty Ross, Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor, and so on. Batman is unique among the heavy hitters of the superhero genre to not have a consistent love interest, well, until recently. At the time of writing, the wedding of Batman and Catwoman is set to be told in Batman #50, due for release on July 4 – by the time you're reading this, that story will already be out and available. So to tie into what could be the most hyped event in comics this half of 2018, let's take a look at the famous comic book weddings and pairings, and whether the odds are stacked in favor of the Gotham couple.
The first major comic book wedding event was the wedding of Mr. Fantastic (Reed Richards) and the Invisible Woman (Susan Storm) of the Fantastic Four in Fantastic Four Annual #3 in 1965, right at the height of the Silver Age. At the time, Marvel had very quickly made a name for themselves, and the Fantastic Four were without a doubt the most popular comic of the early 1960s. From the very beginning, a romance was developed between Reed Richards, the leader of the team, and Susan Storm, who was just as strong a character as any other superhero at the time – not just regulated to being eye candy for the reader. This was one of the earliest examples of an event comic, with several issues leading up to the ceremony, and heroes from the then-small Marvel universe appeared in the issue as well, to fight off the villains that were trying to stop the wedding through attacking the Baxter Building (it was the 60s and the Comics Code was a thing, couldn't get too dark). From here, the couple had two children, Franklin and Valarie, both mutants. Franklin Richards is considered the most powerful mutant on the planet, even he doesn't have access to his full ability yet. The couple has stayed together for most of the publication since 1965, though of course there was a few rough patches. Over time, Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Woman have been considered one of the best couples in comics, and when the team makes their return this year, Marvel's First Family will be back together saving the day.
Marvel followed this up in 1987 with the now-infamous Spider-Man and Mary Jane wedding. This was a story that received a ton of care and excitement by Marvel, with countless issues advertising the story, and a live skit performed at a New York Mets game at Shea Stadium in New York City (it should be noted that Peter Parker is canonically a Mets fan.) For years Spider-Man was typically seen as a teenager or college student, and the high-profile event helped to show the character was an adult now, and would lead to new stories and a different direction for the hero. This story was not entirely unlike the Fantastic Four Annual one, where Electro causes trouble for Spider-Man before the wedding, albeit without knowing his secret identity, but the actual fight doesn't occur during the ceremony. Now we cannot address this story without talking about why I said it was "now-infamous." In 2007, after the Civil War storyline and Marvel editorial wanting to make Spider-Man less adult and "continue for a few decades," the editor-in-chief of the company, Joe Quesada, chose to annul the marriage. Instead of making them get a divorce or whatever because of Peter revealing his identity during Civil War and causing them to be targets like a sane person would do, he decided that this would be a total reset of the romance. In One More Day, Aunt May is dying of a gunshot wound, and Mephisto, the stand-in for Satan in the Marvel Universe, made Peter and Mary Jane a deal – he'd save Aunt May's life, in exchange for their marriage being erased, as well as the world forgetting the identity of the Web-Slinger. And yep, they go right along with it. Fans rightfully hated this story, as it not only destroyed and nullified one of the biggest shakeups in the comics (the public unmasking), it just erased twenty years of development because one guy wanted to change things for no reason. It took until very recently with the Renew Your Vows series where the romance would start back up, and hopefully we'll get the two back together and we can just try to forget One More Day ever happened.
And then, the DC side. DC really doesn't do weddings much for their characters, partially because they relaunch every few years, and partially because their characters have been around for so long most of the time they were already married by the time this would be a common occurrence. Aquaman and Mera were a married couple that ruled over Atlantis, Wonder Woman never married Steve Trevor, nor did Hal Jordan and Carol Ferris – in the latter, she became a Star Sapphire, but that's a story for another time. Barry Allen, the most well-known character to use "The Flash" name did eventually marry Iris West, who did not know his secret identity (nor did she know that her nephew, Wally, was Kid Flash – again, comics were a much different place back then) until she overhead Barry talk in his sleep on their wedding night. Famously, Barry Allen died in Crisis on Infinite Earths, and their children went on to become the Tornado Twins, the son marrying the daughter of Reverse Flash, and having a child as well – Bart Allen, who also took on the Kid Flash name. Basically, the Flash comics are just Game of Thrones but with red jumpsuits and speedsters. Overall, DC mostly sticks to reboots and switching up teams to keep things interesting, rather than add personal life events to their heroes, but hey, there's plenty of exceptions to that. And even still, they've got a good thing going this year, and as you'll see below, they hit the target perfectly twenty years ago.
However, DC did do what is the most well known wedding in 1996 with the one-shot Superman: The Wedding Album. After almost fifty years of romance, being known as "Superman's Girl-Friend Lois Lane," and the death and return of the Man of Steel, the original superhero power couple was officially marrying. Unlike the typical storyline however, this didn't involve Lex Luthor or Brainiac trying to destroy the church or cause Superman to have to rush for time, rather it was a straightforward story about the preparations and ceremony. At the time, Clark Kent himself didn't have his powers, due to events in another comic, thus giving the writers a chance to develop the story instead of just adding extra fighting and villains. Clark asks Jimmy Olsen to be his best man, Batman offers the couple a few perks courtesy of Bruce Wayne, Lois tries on different dresses, the usual planning and discussions. Despite sounding like the exact opposite of most Superman stories, The Wedding Album moves along like any other, the iconic splash page of the kiss being the payoff for reading the book – as well as the cameos of the guests in attendance. This was also the first major story after the previously mentioned death and return of Superman, which made it stand out more against the typical red capes and alien battles. Even the current lead-up to the Batman wedding involves fighting and hero work, but they took the risk and gave Superman a quiet, simple issue. After the 2011 New 52 reboot, the couple was split up, but following the death of New 52 Superman and the Post-Crisis Superman from the pre-Flashpoint canon entering the new universe, Lois and Clark were still together and had a son, Jonathan. In basic terms, there was two continuities, one rebooted the previous one, but due to the multiverse and writers wanting to work with the Superman they remember, the character from the previous universe took the place of the new one and we all just kind of rolled with it.
And now, we have the Dark Knight getting married to a woman who was once a villain, then an flirtatious romance, then an anti-hero, now a vigilante like Batman himself. So far, it seems like we're going to get a story that is equally as good a Batman story as it is a Bruce Wayne one, and there's a lot of potential for development over time within married life for the two characters. Comics aren't always just people in spandex fighting colorful villains and teaming up for bigger threats, sometimes we get to see a character's personal life, their romances, their aspirations. And that makes them more relatable, more human. Of course not every single character needs a big shakeup, nor does something like a wedding have to be a big deal. But being able to keep the fanbase interested enough to follow an arc that's not ending in some big all-hands-on-deck crossover is something that doesn't happen much. And yeah, we all know DC will just reboot and the Batman/Catwoman marriage won't be a thing after, but that's the nature of the beast. Comics will continue to add human and real life situations for their heroes, and that's part of what makes them such a big part of pop culture.
