Bad Romance: 16 Awful Couples DC Wants You To Forget

[Timothy Hunter]

I am really puzzled by these "10 Ten" articles and videos that include phrases like "Disney wants you to forget", or "Marvel wants you to forget", or in this case, "DC wants you to forget". Why would DC give a crap about a couple of bad sub-plots? It's not like they don't take the "DC wants to forget" phrase in the title of the article seriously, because I suspect the writer of this article genuinely believes DC is doing their damnedest to make sure people forget these relationships. For example: "DC definitely don’t want you to remember just how much they’ve been dragging Batwoman through the mud.", "DC probably wants you to forget most of the pre-Crisis continuity but the fact that that their most famous pairing has a rickety history and foundation is particularly hush-hush." Why would DC do that? Nobody cares.

Eghgh... I can't get too angry. Of course all of these click bait-y "Top 15" articles CBR are published because they are successful, and they do appeal to a certain amount of people, it's just that I won't be using Comic Book Resources as a news source any time soon.

[Starter Set]

Don't mind the article's title too much, that's just silly clickbaiting.

[Sacred Knight]

I am really puzzled by these "10 Ten" articles and videos that include phrases like "Disney wants you to forget", or "Marvel wants you to forget", or in this case, "DC wants you to forget". Why would DC give a crap about a couple of bad sub-plots? It's not like they don't take the "DC wants to forget" phrase in the title of the article seriously, because I suspect the writer of this article genuinely believes DC is doing their damnedest to make sure people forget these relationships. For example: "DC definitely don’t want you to remember just how much they’ve been dragging Batwoman through the mud.", "DC probably wants you to forget most of the pre-Crisis continuity but the fact that that their most famous pairing has a rickety history and foundation is particularly hush-hush." Why would they? Nobody cares.

Egh...

Click bait. A cheap way for more traffic. Newsarama has been doing it for years. CBR unfortunately hopped on train not too long ago.

[Timothy Hunter]

Article here: http://www.cbr.com/couples-dc-wants-you-to-forget/

Besides claiming Swamp Thing and Abigail was a bad romance

Strange they would have Swamp Thing and Abby on the list, I always thought their relationship was well received by the vast majority of Swamp Thing fans, I always thought their romance was something essential to the character, like Superman and Lois Lane or Batman's no kill rule. Also the article didn't really give me reason why their relationship was "awful", they just said it was odd, which isn't necessarily a bad thing at all.

[sakuyamons]

Agreed on the Terry/Donna front

[Dr. Skeleton]

Supes/Lois being awful is invalid. I always thought Batman and Canary could've worked as they're both trained in the ninja arts so I felt that was a missed opportunity. Nightwing and Huntress could have worked but Dick wants no part of Helena due to her murdering instincts despite that he would look past that with certain others. Meh.

[AngryComicBookNerd]

Agreed on the Terry/Donna front

I think now looking back the whole Terry Donna thing seems crazy, but this was sort of a sign of the times. I remember it being ok for a young girl to date an older man. It was just a thing. Animal House, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, some examples. It was more accepted back then. The same could be said about the early Superman/Lois stuff. Maybe some was a bit extreme, but other stuff.... yeah it happened. I get the idea with the benefit of hindsight they all look crazy, but to say DC wants you to forget like they're ashamed.... Hey, who's to say some of the best stuff written today won't look totally outdated and goofy in 40 years. It wasn't so much a mistake, they just went with the times. Fortunately times have changed.

[DurararaFTW]

The art for Nightwing and Huntress is definitely Post-Crisis and Dick wasn't adopted until years into his adulthood. We have no indication of what how their familial situation was like when earth-2 Batman knocked up Catwoman, let alone the following decades. And DC does not want us to forget about Superman and Lois Lane being a couple or Mr Freeze and Nora. It's is a big part of these characters even today. Also All-Star Batman and Robin is it's own thing, it doesn't need to be the same universe as Dark Knight Returns just because Frank Miller is writing it.

[TheCape]

I think that if we are honest with ourselves, most of comic book romances has more that one spotty moment that realistically would made then grow apart and make things awkward for the long term, is one of those thing that comes down to the writer and our personal take on it. Except for Peter and MJ, because i'm a bias

[gwangung]

I think now looking back the whole Terry Donna thing seems crazy, but this was sort of a sign of the times. I remember it being ok for a young girl to date an older man. It was just a thing. Animal House, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, some examples. It was more accepted back then. The same could be said about the early Superman/Lois stuff. Maybe some was a bit extreme, but other stuff.... yeah it happened. I get the idea with the benefit of hindsight they all look crazy, but to say DC wants you to forget like they're ashamed.... Hey, who's to say some of the best stuff written today won't look totally outdated and goofy in 40 years. It wasn't so much a mistake, they just went with the times. Fortunately times have changed.

Hm. I always got the sense that Donna was 21-ish and Terry was 29ish. A gap, but not as big as people were making it out to be. But that may be my reading of it...

[Frontier]

Hm. I always got the sense that Donna was 21-ish and Terry was 29ish. A gap, but not as big as people were making it out to be. But that may be my reading of it...

Probably about as big as the age difference between Green Arrow and Black Canary pre-Ollie's rejuvenation.

[reni344]

What is wrong with the Shazam/Stargirl relationship? He was actually a kid her age but by nature of his powers transformed into his older self but still had his teenage mind. Are they trying to compare it in the article to the Terra/Deathstroke relationship or the Hal/Aresia relationship? She did not go out with Billy as Shazam she went out with him as Billy. She knew his idenity and the nature of his powers.

[gwangung]

What is wrong with the Shazam/Stargirl relationship? He was actually a kid her age but by nature of his powers transformed into his older self but still had his teenage mind. Are they trying to compare it in the article to the Terra/Deathstroke relationship or the Hal/Aresia relationship? She did not go out with Billy as Shazam she went out with him as Billy. She knew his idenity and the nature of his powers.

Yeah. It was actually kinda sweet. And the misplaced concern from others was kinda funny. (I mean, you could actually make the argument that SHE was the older one of the pair).

[CryNotWolf]

Black Canary and Batman were never a couple. They've kissed 2 times to my knowledge, only one of which happened in main continuity. And neither time was represented as being anything close to romantic.

This list is lame, anyway. Where's Kyle x Carol? Kendra x Roy? Starfire x Roy? Mera x Noble? Selina x Sam Bradley? Lois Lane x Jeb Friedman? There are so many awful ones that would be in DC's best interests to never revisit...it really makes you realize that the people who write this schlock really aren't all that invested in the universe and throw in a bunch of randoms with the super-notorious eff-ups (like Hal and Slade's pedophilic relationships).

[TheCape]

Mera x Noble?

Noble?. who was that guy?