Every Hero's Romantic History

[John Venus]

I don't mind Ollie, Dick and Roy being playas. It feels organic to their characters. I would object if it was Hal, Barry, Clark or Ray Palmer being pushed into those roles.

In Dick's case, I think it's due to a combination of his long published history with all the love interests he accumulated over the years ended up getting consolidated by making him a playboy and there is also the large female fanbase who lusts after him. Ollie being an actual playboy as opposed to Bruce pretending to be one, differentiates him from the latter, imo. I don't think he should be a cheater though, maybe he did it in his pre-island days before he got humbled, but I think he should be committed (or at the very least trying very hard to) in the present day. Roy, being Ollie's prodigy probably picked up a few of his mentors habits.

I see Ollie and Roy as people who are actively, unsubtlety trying to get laid while Dick is more of a natural charmer. He's not trying to get laid but he's nice, caring, athletic, good looking which ends up making him a good catch for the ladies. An Accidental Player. If he is dating, he will be 100% committed to his partner and to his partner only. I think him sleeping around can be explained away as thus; he won't do it unless he thinks it's going to lead to something deeper and more meaningful but he is also a bit too trusting for his own good and his desire to be more emotive and connect with people better than Bruce did sometimes leads him to bed with people he maybe shouldn't be with like Post Crisis Helena Bertinelli.

[Robanker]

In Zatanna: Come Together mini series, she slept with a guy named Josh. Probably one of the most emotionally healthiest dude she ever been with. However, his mother was a witch and dies in the climax helping Zee fight the bad guy and it's implied the relationship ended there.

I mean if that doesn't kill your vibe I don't know what will. Then again, John's responsible for her dad dying and she can't get enough of that lout, so what do I know?

[John Venus]

Man, I'm convinced some mind messing happened between American Gothic and Books of Magic. You don't just curse at a dude for getting your father killed in one issue then kiss him in your next published appearance like y'all are friends-with-benefits when Timothy's not looking. Nor do you spend a good chunk of your existence being the JL's magical heavy weight fighting JL level threats then suddenly lose your nerve fighting an army of magical villains after taking Hunter to a place you shouldn't have just so your problematic boyfriend can swoop in and look cool.

[Slimybug]

Man, I'm convinced some mind messing happened between American Gothic and Books of Magic. You don't just curse at a dude for getting your father killed in one issue then kiss him in your next published appearance like y'all are friends-with-benefits when Timothy's not looking. Nor do you spend a good chunk of your existence being the JL's magical heavy weight fighting JL level threats then suddenly lose your nerve fighting an army of magical villains after taking Hunter to a place you shouldn't have just so your problematic boyfriend can swoop in and look cool.

Hmmm? Who did she blame for getting her father killed? Who are Timothy and Hunter?

[Jabare]

context is for the weak

[Will Evans]

Hmmm? Who did she blame for getting her father killed? Who are Timothy and Hunter?

Zatanna blamed John Constantine

[Frontier]

context is for the weak

Lucky Dick .

[Will Evans]

I don't mind Ollie, Dick and Roy being playas. It feels organic to their characters. I would object if it was Hal, Barry, Clark or Ray Palmer being pushed into those roles.

In Dick's case, I think it's due to a combination of his long published history with all the love interests he accumulated over the years ended up getting consolidated by making him a playboy and there is also the large female fanbase who lusts after him. Ollie being an actual playboy as opposed to Bruce pretending to be one, differentiates him from the latter, imo. I don't think he should be a cheater though, maybe he did it in his pre-island days before he got humbled, but I think he should be committed (or at the very least trying very hard to) in the present day. Roy, being Ollie's prodigy probably picked up a few of his mentors habits.

I see Ollie and Roy as people who are actively, unsubtlety trying to get laid while Dick is more of a natural charmer. He's not trying to get laid but he's nice, caring, athletic, good looking which ends up making him a good catch for the ladies. An Accidental Player. If he is dating, he will be 100% committed to his partner and to his partner only. I think him sleeping around can be explained away as thus; he won't do it unless he thinks it's going to lead to something deeper and more meaningful but he is also a bit too trusting for his own good and his desire to be more emotive and connect with people better than Bruce did sometimes leads him to bed with people he maybe shouldn't be with like Post Crisis Helena Bertinelli.

You would object if it was Hal?? Really??

Did Hal’s personality get retcon recently and I didn’t know?

[Gaius]

For Wonder Woman ones I think of from her own book:
Steve Trevor
Michael Bailey
Kieth Giggs
Rama
Trevor Barnes
Tom Tressor/Nemesis
Kalsa

Other heroes she's been treated as arm candy for or in a relationship with:
Superman (Injustice, Kingdom Come, New 52, Miller's DKR universe, Red Son, etc)
Batman (Bruce Timm's head, some issues from Joe Kelley's Justice League run, Tom King's "Superfriends" arc from his Batman run, etc)
Aquaman (Flashpoint, some issues of Grant Morrison's Justice League run)
Orion (New 52)

[Tzigone]

I don't mind Ollie, Dick and Roy being playas. It feels organic to their characters. I would object if it was Hal, Barry, Clark or Ray Palmer being pushed into those roles.

I object to it with Dick. It was a significant character attribute in the 1980s and 1990s that he didn't do casual. But, unfortunately, the Dick Grayson of today is far cry from who he was 20 (or 30 or 40) years ago, and there are whole host of changes I deeply dislike. I mean late '90s and early '80s Dick were pretty different, too. And '70s Dick wasn't exactly like '80s. But I liked them all better than the bulk of post-2001 Dick. And I didn't find the shift from serious-relationship-only to player-Dick at all organic (not helped by retconning infidelity into an era it should not have been in).

Did Hal’s personality get retcon recently and I didn’t know?

I think it wouldn't have been in character for old (very, very old now) Hal, but that's another ship that sailed a while ago.

Of course, I also liked non-cheating-asshole Ollie of the old days (not that I had any objection to his having plenty of casual encounters in the past) who was totally in love with Dinah and faithful and wasn't just looking for hookup, even when he first met her.

Roy has definitely had "player" status fairly often since the 1970s (late 60s?). Not that that precludes him ever settling down. I don't require that he do so (once he's not dead), but plenty of people have monogamous relationships after not having done so at younger age. Just no double standards where the woman has to be totally unaccepting of that mentality or way more monogamous/"innocent" (terrible term, really) than he is in her background.

[Jabare]

Hal is most definetly a "playa"

[John Venus]

Hmmm? Who did she blame for getting her father killed? Who are Timothy and Hunter?

She blamed Constantine for her father's death. Timothy Hunter was a character that appeared in the Neil Gaiman's Books of Magic mini series and later had his own ongoing in DC's Vertigo line of books.

context is for the weak

For the weak ones: that's not the real WW.

For Wonder Woman ones I think of from her own book:
Steve Trevor
Michael Bailey
Kieth Giggs
Rama
Trevor Barnes
Tom Tressor/Nemesis
Kalsa

Other heroes she's been treated as arm candy for or in a relationship with:
Superman (Injustice, Kingdom Come, New 52, Miller's DKR universe, Red Son, etc)
Batman (Bruce Timm's head, some issues from Joe Kelley's Justice League run, Tom King's "Superfriends" arc from his Batman run, etc)
Aquaman (Flashpoint, some issues of Grant Morrison's Justice League run)
Orion (New 52)

For WW there is also Io. Rucka also name dropped a whole laundry list of women she's been with while growing up in Themyscira. I think Christopher Priest, Peter David and Mark Waid also pushed a WW/Arthur romance back in the day.

Also, I can't recall her being paired with a female hero even in a fly-under-the-radar sub text kind of way.

You would object if it was Hal?? Really??

Did HalÂ’s personality get retcon recently and I didnÂ’t know?

Hal is most definetly a "playa"

IIRC, Johns tried to push that angle but I never got that sense from the character, especially in the pre-Johns stuff I read. He's been with Carol Ferris, Cowgirl and Arisia. The latter is problematic and I can't see any modern writer trying to revive it and Jillian/Cowgirl hasn't been pushed to the extent that Carol has as Hal's love interest. To my knowledge he's never hooked up with anybody in the League either. Any time he's in bed with someone it's usually Carol. There was that time in Robinsons Cry of Justice where Robinson tried to claim that Hal had a threesome with Huntress and Lady Blackhawk which prompted a lot of backlash. We never saw that on panel and everybody acts like it never happened. I know he had a couple of love interests pre-Emerald Twilight. Feel free to correct me if I am wrong though.


Speaking of Green Lanterns; Kyle Rayner has been with Donna Troy, Jade, Alexandra DeWitte (the fridge woman), Soranik Natu and Carol Ferris. John Stewart has been with Tawney Young, Katma Tui, Rose Hardin, Hawkgirl/Shayera Thal (JLU) , Vixen (JLU) and Fatality. Alan Scott has been with Irene Miller, Rose Caton, Molly Mayne (Harlequin) and Sam Zhao.

[Gaius]

For WW there is also Io. Rucka also name dropped a whole laundry list of women she's been with while growing up in Themyscira. I think Christopher Priest, Peter David and Mark Waid also pushed a WW/Arthur romance back in the day.

Also, I can't recall her being paired with a female hero even in a fly-under-the-radar sub text kind of way.

I did consider Io but reading recently it came off more Io was more interested in her than Diana was.

[j9ac9k]

Hal Jordan definitely bones. On multiple planets. Most of them just aren't significant enough to warrant page space. Johns even had Hal have a one-night stand where neither of them remembered each other's name. It was just a regular night for Hal. I mean, he's Mr "There's water ... in the tap."

[married guy]

Wally West was a horndog before he settled down with Linda.
Raven (although this one probably doesn't count), Connie, Tina, Frankie, Christina, Celia, Julie, hitting on Power Girl every chance he got,