Why aren't more characters married?

[MichaelC]

There certainly have been plenty of TV shows about married couples, so in theory a comic about a married couple shouldn't be a problem. In practice, though, superhero stories tend to have clear heroes and villains, and if there is conflict between the hero and his/her spouse, the story will usually pick a side, making one out to be the villain. Which either makes the superhero into the villain of his own story, or makes the spouse a shrew who needs to be disposed of.

Whereas in, say, sitcoms about married couples, both parties are often comically awful people who realistically would quickly divorce, and might even end up in jail, for what they do to each other. But we let it slide because Everybody Loves Raymond or Married with Children is funny.

[myownlittleusername]

There certainly have been plenty of TV shows about married couples, so in theory a comic about a married couple shouldn't be a problem. In practice, though, superhero stories tend to have clear heroes and villains, and if there is conflict between the hero and his/her spouse, the story will usually pick a side, making one out to be the villain. Which either makes the superhero into the villain of his own story, or makes the spouse a shrew who needs to be disposed of.

Whereas in, say, sitcoms about married couples, both parties are often comically awful people who would quickly divorce, and might even end up in jail, for what they do to each other. But we let it slide because Everybody Loves Raymond or Married with Children is funny.

The Cosby Show handled marriage pretty well from what I remember of it. Might have been an exception perhaps.

[Agent Z]

They also tried Superman and Lois Lane marriage. It didn't last long. It was rebooted.

Have you noticed some of the superheroes' kids like Nick Fury Jr, Damian Wayne, Connor Hawke (Green Arrow), and Lian Harper (daughter of Roy Harper and Cheshire) were born out of wedlock and raised by single mothers?

Superman and Lois are back to being married. Also, the original marriage lasted 15 years in real time. That's pretty damn long.

[Agent Z]

Because marriage ends the cat and mouse relationship game and any possibility of seeing them with someone else without someone looking bad. It's supposed to be final and for the rest of your life. The moment you marry two people it ends the love drama and possible other stories that can be told, and future writers have to adapt to that change.

- Cyclops and Madelyne Pryor was a huge mistake as future writers wanted him back as an X-Men member with Jean Grey. To make matters worse, he had a baby with Madelyne. How do you fix it? Goblin Queen and Mr. Sinister.

- Black Panther and Storm was just stupid and how did they fix it? Black Panther had to annul their wedding.

- Spider-man and MJ. The devil.

- Jane Foster was married to Keith and had a son, but Thor returns and she divorces Keith and loses custody of her son. How do they make her more sympathetic? Kill her ex-husband and son.

- They tried the whole Green Arrow and Black Canary marriage and it just didn't work for everyone. DC aborted before Batman and Catwoman could try their hand.

Every story choice ends possible stories. The only thing marriage ends is the possibility of the hero having multiple love interests and last I checked that wasn't the sole reason people read about superheroes.

[leokearon]

Some writers/editors believe Marriage ages a character, they don't want their characters to grow up, despite it being part of life.

[leokearon]

I remember when this cover was announced, and being sad seeing all the failed marriages

[Omega Alpha]

- Cyclops and Madelyne Pryor was a huge mistake as future writers wanted him back as an X-Men member with Jean Grey. To make matters worse, he had a baby with Madelyne. How do you fix it? Goblin Queen and Mr. Sinister.
.

Cyclops and Madelyne was an unique case in which the marriage was specifically designed to keep Cyclops out of the X-men so Claremont's pet character Storm could lead. And the whole idea that a guy finds a girl that looks just like his dead love, marries her shortly after they met, and it's supposed to be a beautiful love story is just non-sense for anyone with a brain.

But overall, while it makes sense that people in such a high-risk job would have high divorce/separation rates, this really happens often because writers want to create tension and drama with romantic triangles. So, the only safe marriages are Reed/Sue and Northstar's, because Marvel would never allow it's first gay couple to divorce.

The Cosby Show handled marriage pretty well from what I remember of it. Might have been an exception perhaps.

Brooklyn 99 is another good example of a sitcom that handled marriage between two main characters very well.

[Fokken]

Real talk: Relationships are challenged by sooooooo many external factors outside the love two people share -- especially when your work life is as insane as a superhero's must be.

Jobs. Money. Family. If y'all don't have some seriously solid communication and empathy, this ordinary stuff can really fracture things and breed all kinds of unfortunate resentments. Factoring those obstacles on top of regularly engaging in violent, life or death, end of the world stuff(or just end of your city block? Hell, end of your respective communal Mansion residence, ha ha) is gonna have a toll.

And of course every marriage is going to be different.

I'm particularly fond of Gambit and Rogue's fast paced, adrenaline pumping, sexy wedded escapades thus far under Kelly Thompson. She really sold me. It can be written well. It can be lots of fun. It can be exciting AND sexy.

But also, not everyone needs to be married. Not everyone has that desire. And that's completely cool too. Just like not every superhero marriage needs to reproduce simply because they have the biological components (and, in some cases, they don't have the components and still manage to make kiddos)

[MichelleDiMera]

Reed and Sue have been going strong for decades. And Rogue and Gambit recently tied the not...adn time will tell if it lasts...but why are more not married.

Peter and MJ had a good run...but way I hear it...as soon as they tied the knot Marvel kept trying to find a way to end it.

Kitty and Piotr have been on and off for decades...and I have no doubt that in a few years time they will be back on again....which is really pathetic for Piotr considering the way Kitty done did him.

Hank and Janet...even after Hank's abuse kept hooking back up.

Marriage is a natural part of life...why are there not more married super heroes???

Quesada said that Peter being married makes him seem old..they hated him being married so much that they had him make a deal with the devil to undo it all and pretty DECIMATE decades of stories.

[Knight27]

Real talk: Relationships are challenged by sooooooo many external factors outside the love two people share -- especially when your work life is as insane as a superhero's must be.

Jobs. Money. Family. If y'all don't have some seriously solid communication and empathy, this ordinary stuff can really fracture things and breed all kinds of unfortunate resentments. Factoring those obstacles on top of regularly engaging in violent, life or death, end of the world stuff(or just end of your city block? Hell, end of your respective communal Mansion residence, ha ha) is gonna have a toll.

And of course every marriage is going to be different.

I'm particularly fond of Gambit and Rogue's fast paced, adrenaline pumping, sexy wedded escapades thus far under Kelly Thompson. She really sold me. It can be written well. It can be lots of fun. It can be exciting AND sexy.

But also, not everyone needs to be married. Not everyone has that desire. And that's completely cool too. Just like not every superhero marriage needs to reproduce simply because they have the biological components (and, in some cases, they don't have the components and still manage to make kiddos)

Thank you for this. This is a great answer

[Chris0013]

But also, not everyone needs to be married. Not everyone has that desire. And that's completely cool too. Just like not every superhero marriage needs to reproduce simply because they have the biological components (and, in some cases, they don't have the components and still manage to make kiddos)

Not saying everyone...but there should be a few more married couples than there currently are. Just my $0.02.

[ChrisIII]

There's also Bruce and Betty, as well as Ceira. Seems that relationship still has it's ups and downs. They tried to get married in the 70s when Bruce had one of his temporary cures, but the Leader put a stop to that....Their marriage in the 80's was of course much longer, but they were often seperated, or the Hulk got in the way somehow (Betty also had some trouble adjusting to the merged version)....and then Betty died of course. Since she's been back they've been on and off of course, but I think that Ross annulled the marriage when she 'died'. Plus Bruce getting married to a space queen and having two kids didn't help.

BTW how about Donna Troy? That turned out to be a mess if I remember.

[Fokken]

Not saying everyone...but there should be a few more married couples than there currently are. Just my $0.02.

Oh yes of course. My wording was poor. I apologize. I just meant that marriage isn't the goal for every couple. That's all. Its a romanticized archaic custom, imho. (And I'm married. haha)

[Michael Watkins]

marriage has ruined a number of characters

[Digifiend]

i just woke up are tony and janet married yet

I doubt that relationship will survive Slott leaving the book. It has at least finally been acknowledged in another series, as Viv and Nadia discussed it in last week's Unstoppable Wasp. Viv was explaining everyone's relationships to Nadia, and when it came to Tony Stark, him dating Janet was mentioned. Since Janet is Nadia's step-mother and adoptive mother, she of course already knew.