Poll: X-Couples Who Actually Made Each Other Better?

[Ulfhammer]

Made that beer feel loved

Right... Until that beer gets gutted, emptied and carelessly tossed away. Talk about love 'em and leave 'em.

[Ulfhammer]

Rictor and Shatterstar are enjoyable together. Emma and Scott can be tolerable, as long as Emma isn't written as an accessory (Fraction...).

Everyone else has more bad moments than good.

I'd challenge you to back that statement up with Jott. Lot's of bad moments sure, but how many of them were bad relationship moments and not just bad situations they ended up in?

[yogaflame]

Actually I think Ororo and Forge spent a long time together. Remember the Adversary stuck them in some pocket dimension. I don't think its ever explicitly stated on panel how long they were there but Storm's hair had grown nearly down to the ground by the time they left. That may be my favorite Storm hair actually.

They were there for a year, but Ororo spent the vast majority of that time away from him. She walked from the interior of the US to east Africa(without her powers or any tech) and back in a year(which is beyond impressive anyways). They were actually together for like a day or two(where he restored her powers and they teleport back home) before he killed her and the X-Men to seal away the Adversary. Then the whole Aussie era happens, and Storm is deaged. So really, they were only dating from like post X-Tinction Agenda(where she reaged) to Uncanny 291, less than 20 issues(and their romance was very understated for most of that time).

[LoganAlpha30X33]

Lol there's no drama in making each other better! That also requires writing talent and freedom. Something writers aren't given too much of. But if I had to pick one... Psylocke and Angel never damaged each other. They split during or after Revolution because I think Psylocke felt trapped? Not 100% but I don't think it was any more complicated than that.

Actually they split because Claremont was leaving Uncanny and then was going to start X-treme X-men, he wanted Betsy on that team and not Warren so he split them up in a quick hurry...if he hadn't left Uncanny even he admitted that he would have left Warren and Betsy together for the long haul, even though he wasn't a fan of the pairing, so originally Neal was never supposed to date Betsy at all, he was supposed to flirt with her a bit before she shut him down, anything about feeling trapped was just added later to try to make up for a terrible storyline all around...I think some of that whole time is what sunk Neal as a character that even Claremont admits now that Neal is a disaster of a character...

Warren/Betsy helped each other out a good deal and made each other better, Alex/Lorna did as well when written well, the poll didn't have Sam/Tabitha as I felt that they fit together well and made each other better...Scott and Jean got to the point where the pairing restricted any and all character growth for either and it felt like one couldn't exist without the other due to a Marvel editorial edict or something...

[JeanGreyForever]

Actually they split because Claremont was leaving Uncanny and then was going to start X-treme X-men, he wanted Betsy on that team and not Warren so he split them up in a quick hurry...if he hadn't left Uncanny even he admitted that he would have left Warren and Betsy together for the long haul, even though he wasn't a fan of the pairing, so originally Neal was never supposed to date Betsy at all, he was supposed to flirt with her a bit before she shut him down, anything about feeling trapped was just added later to try to make up for a terrible storyline all around...I think some of that whole time is what sunk Neal as a character that even Claremont admits now that Neal is a disaster of a character...

It's interesting that Neal was originally supposed to be a love interest for Jean at the time since Scott was dead. I guess Claremont always saw a lot of parallels between Jean and Betsy considering they swapped powers and Claremont also wanted to pair up Betsy with Scott and Jean with Logan.

[LoganAlpha30X33]

I think that he just shifted Neal from Jean to Betsy since he was leaving that book to start X-treme and was taking Betsy and not Warren, I don't think it was that he saw parallels between them but he kind of had to change things on the fly to fit the circumstances that he suddenly found himself in...

[Sundowhn]

Wow, so many couples have been written badly over the years...only a few stand out as actually not accentuating the negative in one another.

It doesn't mean the drama wasn't popular or fun to read about, it was just tedious if you viewed them as real people.

Scott/Jean -- grief/better/grief/cheating/grief, etc

Scott/Emma -- I liked this one, but they did bring out the worst in one another

Rogue/Gambit -- started fun, turned angsty and melodramatic

Kurt/Amanda -- booty call/ lies and secrets/ booty call/ lies and secrets, etc

Kitty/Colossus -- cute when it was a crush, got creepy later

Meggan/Brian -- and abusive alcoholic and a woman with low self-esteem. It hit some real life notes, which made it interesting to read about, but it was a rough one during Excalibur era


I liked Moira and Sean. They worked well together. I liked Kitty and Pete Wisdom, but it was more a coming of age story for her and he got dumped. I liked AOA Rogue and Magneto. I really liked Scott and Madeline, before it got ugly and twisted.

[JeanGreyForever]

I think that he just shifted Neal from Jean to Betsy since he was leaving that book to start X-treme and was taking Betsy and not Warren, I don't think it was that he saw parallels between them but he kind of had to change things on the fly to fit the circumstances that he suddenly found himself in...

Yeah but he could have made any other female character in the book the love interest for Neal. Like Ororo, Sage, or Rogue, or eventually Heather (I think he did imply feelings between them). Jean and Betsy always had a lot of similarities especially in the way that Claremont wrote them. And the lines were blurred between the two even more after the power switch which he was responsible for. It's even more now considering Betsy has the same killer urges that Jean had when she first became Phoenix, both being omega level mutants, both having a Dark Saga Story or being central to it, and even their love interests. Scott, Warren, Logan are all tied to both women. Even the Hand brainwashing story was supposed to be recycled from Psylocke to Wolverine and Jean if Claremont had stayed on board.

I really liked Scott and Madeline, before it got ugly and twisted.

I'm not sure how Scott and Madelyne was ever a healthy relationship considering he only married her because she looked, smelled, and talked like his lost love.

[Sundowhn]

I'm not sure how Scott and Madelyne was ever a healthy relationship considering he only married her because she looked, smelled, and talked like his lost love.

You have a point of it being creepy, but she also, at least for a little while, established herself as a different person. I remember the scene where she talked to Scott about being around, after giving birth to Nathan alone on the kitchen floor. It stuck with me, how this "normal" woman was trying to make a life with her spouse constantly in crazy situations.

[JeanGreyForever]

You have a point of it being creepy, but she also, at least for a little while, established herself as a different person. I remember the scene where she talked to Scott about being around, after giving birth to Nathan alone on the kitchen floor. It stuck with me, how this "normal" woman was trying to make a life with her spouse constantly in crazy situations.

I read it already knowing her connection to Jean, so I never really saw her as an individual character, but just a watered down Jean incarnation that I had to endure until the real one returned. I know there are people who really loved the Maddie character though especially in the early Outback days before she was retconned into having always been trying to separate the X-Men from X-Factor and never caring about her son.

[Sundowhn]

I read it already knowing her connection to Jean, so I never really saw her as an individual character, but just a watered down Jean incarnation that I had to endure until the real one returned. I know there are people who really loved the Maddie character though especially in the early Outback days before she was retconned into having always been trying to separate the X-Men from X-Factor and never caring about her son.

She definitely got thrown under the bus.

Claremont had some interesting commentary on her in interviews, over the years. She really was only ever intended to be a lookalike.
http://www.cbr.com/chris-claremont-o...adelyne-pryor/

[JeanGreyForever]

She definitely got thrown under the bus.

Claremont had some interesting commentary on her in interviews, over the years. She really was only ever intended to be a lookalike.
http://www.cbr.com/chris-claremont-o...adelyne-pryor/

Yeah, Maddie was supposed to be the happy ending for Scott while Rachel was the Phoenix power on the team. Personally, I know lots of people were angry at how Maddie's character was handled, but I think it was necessary imo. Not so much to redeem Scott, but mainly because she had way too many connections to Jean for them all to be just red herrings or coincidences. Besides the fact that she had a 100% resemblance to her, but also her plane crash at the same time that Phoenix died, and her knowing things about Scott like his favorite breakfast, etc. I've heard some people theorize that Claremont didn't just intend Maddie to be a Jean replacement, but all these hints were actually for readers to assume that Maddie really was Jean resurrected. He could never outright say it out loud but readers would be able to infer from all the clues. There really wouldn't have been a point to keep both Maddie and Jean. Rachel at least was her own separate character and not another Jean incarnation.

[a moment closer]

Colossus and Domino

One is clingy and sensitive. The other is independent and uninhibited. They, kind of balanced each other out.

Edit: Which is probably why the pairing was dropped. I guess the functioning couple who're happy together isn't very interesting these days. Colossus goes back to pining after Kitty. Domino goes back to limbo and/or is relegated to spinoff titles.

Colossus and Domino were a couple that immediately made sense to me and I never thought I wanted to see them paired up. When Cable and X-Force came out I had no idea that I would like Colossus in that setting but it worked because of AVX. That was a great character driven book. Too bad good things never last. I was so sad to see that these two got dropped as a couple following Secret Wars. I would have chosen them first if they were a poll option.

My poll choice was Emma and Scott. These two were damaged and flawed but over the years together they really did help each other. Did they become better people? Not necessarily. They pushed each other to be better and to face the truths about themselves. Their relationship seemed very honest and real.

Jamie and Layla were really good for each other. I want to forget about DOX so bad. I hope they are able to reverse his role in that, explain it away somehow, bring him back. Bring them back.

Rictor and Shatterstar have a very special place in my heart. Peter David really elevated their profile as individuals by bringing them together. IMO. I would love a book, a la 'Midnighter and Apollo', for these two to get developed more.

Just a few mentions here I'd like to throw out there as couples I liked. In the story, they made sense, and at least one character walked away from the relationship a better person.

Frenzy and Cyclops from Age of X. Frenzy landed on my radar during that story and I absolutely loved how she was changed for the better because of it. I still want to see her developed more. A solo or mini would be great.

Storm and Wolverine. I don't think they made each other better. I'm mean, when they became a couple this last time, they were both at their individual best. I love them together actually. Hopefully, we'll see them reunited. And married? Definitely. Kids? Maybe.

Psylocke and Fantomex, as a couple, were good for each other. Fanto benefitted from that relationship more than Betsy but it got damn interesting before falling apart so horribly.

There are a few more I could go on about but I'll leave it for another post.

[Ulfhammer]

Wow, so many couples have been written badly over the years...only a few stand out as actually not accentuating the negative in one another.

It doesn't mean the drama wasn't popular or fun to read about, it was just tedious if you viewed them as real people.

Scott/Jean -- grief/better/grief/cheating/grief, etc

Scott/Emma -- I liked this one, but they did bring out the worst in one another

Rogue/Gambit -- started fun, turned angsty and melodramatic

Kurt/Amanda -- booty call/ lies and secrets/ booty call/ lies and secrets, etc

Kitty/Colossus -- cute when it was a crush, got creepy later

Meggan/Brian -- and abusive alcoholic and a woman with low self-esteem. It hit some real life notes, which made it interesting to read about, but it was a rough one during Excalibur era


I liked Moira and Sean. They worked well together. I liked Kitty and Pete Wisdom, but it was more a coming of age story for her and he got dumped. I liked AOA Rogue and Magneto. I really liked Scott and Madeline, before it got ugly and twisted.

Wow are you ever oversimplifying but you cracked me up on more than one occasion here. Isn't Meggan/Brian one of the longest x-relationships around? I'm not disagreeing with what your saying but it did last.

I also have to disagree with you about Scott and Jean. I think it's easy to overlook how long their relationship was stable and even relativity functional. I'm thinking about 10 years... not counting however much of the 12 years counted in the AoC&P. Yes there was a lot of crap over that time but damn did Claremont and the writers that followed do a lot of on panel relationship affirmation for these two. It's seems a lot of people got bored with how drama-free their relationship became. Isn't that why Morrison axed them?

[Sundowhn]

Yeah, Maddie was supposed to be the happy ending for Scott while Rachel was the Phoenix power on the team. Personally, I know lots of people were angry at how Maddie's character was handled, but I think it was necessary imo. Not so much to redeem Scott, but mainly because she had way too many connections to Jean for them all to be just red herrings or coincidences. Besides the fact that she had a 100% resemblance to her, but also her plane crash at the same time that Phoenix died, and her knowing things about Scott like his favorite breakfast, etc. I've heard some people theorize that Claremont didn't just intend Maddie to be a Jean replacement, but all these hints were actually for readers to assume that Maddie really was Jean resurrected. He could never outright say it out loud but readers would be able to infer from all the clues. There really wouldn't have been a point to keep both Maddie and Jean. Rachel at least was her own separate character and not another Jean incarnation.

Yes, Claremont said he deliberately threw out red herrings to make readers believe Madeline was Jean, though, according to him, she was never meant to be. Editorial decided to do a resurrection story that Claremont was against. That was where Maddy-under-the-bus came from.

Rachel remains one of my favorites.