Marvel Comics has delivered great superhero team-ups since the beginning of the line. Early comics, such as Strange Tales, featured the Human Torch teaming up with various heroes for adventures. Even bigger was when Marvel launched two distinctive team-up comics with Marvel Two-In-One and Marvel Team Up, where The Thing and Spider-Man, respectively, would team up with a new hero each month. This dynamic was also evident in many solo comics, where superheroes would develop close relationships with other heroes, often becoming so intertwined that they became synonymous with one another. It is not always sidekicks, as many of the best hero duos were contemporaries of each other.
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From Avengers and X-Men to private eyes and aliens, here is a look at Marvel Comics’ best team-ups in comics.
10) Iron Man & War Machine
Tony Stark and James Rhodes have been best friends for years. Of course, Tony became Iron Man first as one of Marvel’s first superheroes. That said, James was a close ally of Tony, starting as his personal pilot and someone who fought alongside him, utilizing his military training. When Tony succumbed to alcoholism, he convinced James to become the new Iron Man, which he did.
After Tony returned, James became War Machine, equipped with new armor. James and Tony remained close allies. Iron Man and War Machine have been partners more often than Tony has teamed with anyone else. They are such close friends that Tony used groundbreaking technology to bring Rhodes back to life after he died in Civil War II.
9) Captain America & Sam Wilson
Steve Rogers and Sam Wilson have come a long way since they originally began teaming up. Initially, Steve was Captain America, and Sam was a young man who took on the identity of the Falcon after a battle involving the Red Skull. The two became close allies, and they were perfectly contrasted with each other, as Steve was a patriotic superhero and Falcon always fought for social justice.
However, their relationship has undergone significant changes over the years. Sam Wilson became the new Captain America, and while Steve was initially supportive of it, they have been at odds more than once since then, thanks to differing values. Now, both men operate as Captain America, and they remain close allies more often than not, as they are closer than even Cap and Bucky Barnes.
8) Rocket & Groot
One of the most popular Marvel duos in movies is easily Rocket Raccoon and Groot. They helped elevate Guardians of the Galaxy thanks to Rocket’s smart mouth and Groot’s unique nature. In the comics, the two are also a solid duo, but they rank somewhat lower in the comics than they do in the movies. This is because, while Rocket is fantastic in almost every appearance, Groot is a little less interesting.
Groot in the comics has undergone several changes, including being able to speak normally on many occasions. He also often has an antagonistic relationship with Rocket, or at least a rejection of their close bond, although Rocket almost always maintains his love for Groot. However, when they are on the same page, they still deliver a fun experience.
7) Colleen Wing & Misty Knight
Colleen Wing and Misty Knight have been partners for longer than almost anyone in comics. They were close friends and allies in the early Iron Fist comics, and their partnership even predated the Power Man and Iron Fist comics. Known as the Daughters of the Dragon, they initially appeared only as supporting characters in Iron Fist stories, but their popularity grew until fans demanded more from the duo.
By 1990, they finally had their own stories, where they took the lead as a legitimate duo. In the 2000s, they even received their own miniseries and played a significant role in the rebooted Heroes for Hire series. Thanks to their appearances in the Netflix Luke Cage and Iron Fist series, they became even more popular and remain an iconic Marvel Comics duo.
6) Rogue & Gambit
Gambit and Rogue remain one of Marvel Comics’ most popular romantic couples, and it is a shock they haven’t taken that love story to any of the previous X-Men movies. With Gambit finally showing up in Deadpool & Wolverine in 2024, and the X-Men coming to the MCU, there are hopes that the Marvel power couple might finally get a chance to show their greatness on the big screen.
As a duo, Rogue and Gambit remain an iconic duo in X-Men comics, and they make everything better when they are on the page together. They are not only perfect lovers, but they are also fantastic when fighting together, and they seem to have the best chemistry. Their tendency to bicker with each other makes them an entertaining combination as well.
5) Deadpool & Wolverine
While Marvel Comics’ best pairing used to be Deadpool and Cable, Deadpool and Wolverine have taken their place thanks to the MCU. The Cable and Deadpool pairing mainly was a straight man and jester duo, and that remains the same with Wolverine in the game. While Deadpool and Cable spun out of the mutant team of X-Force, it seems like Deadpool and Wolverine have a great relationship in different parts of Marvel Comics.
Deadpool continues to antagonize people who take themselves way too seriously. While Cable was always too uptight and refused to accept Deadpool’s foolishness, Wolverine is a little more laid back at times, and this allows the two to share some great moments, both when they are teaming up and when Wolverine is gunning for Deadpool, or vice versa.
4) Spider-Man & Black Cat
Spider-Man had his own comic book where he teamed up with different people in each issue. Outside Marvel Team Up, it seemed that Spider-Man always worked well with Human Torch and Daredevil. However, Spider-Man has always been best with Black Cat, someone who is not only one of the best Spider-Man girlfriends in Marvel Comics history, but also one of his most loyal partners.
Out of everyone in Peter Parker’s life, there might not be anyone who knows him better than Black Cat. She has proven that in recent comics, where she is the only person who knows that the person running around as Peter Parker was an imposter. She also wants to be a better person for Spider-Man, proving they are perfect together.
3) Cloak & Dagger
Cloak and Dagger are the only duo on this list that have to be together, and no one can ever imagine them on their own. Ty and Tandy were teenage runaways when they were kidnapped and trafficked to a place where they were injected with drugs. This led to Cloak and Dagger’s mutant powers igniting at that time, which involved Cloak developing powers of darkness and Dagger gaining the power of light.
Since that time, Cloak and Dagger began to work as both heroes and antiheroes, often too violent for Spider-Man’s taste, but also remaining so sympathetic that everyone, including Spider-Man, fights to help them. The one most notable time they split up, Cloak almost lost complete control of himself, and he needed Dagger to finally regain control again.
2) Nova & Star-Lord
Star-Lord is best known for his role as one of the prominent leaders of the Guardians of the Galaxy. However, while that is what he is best known for, his greatest Marvel Comics appearances have come when he works side by side with Nova. Peter Quill and Richard Ryder are the best of friends. In everything from Annihilation to the recent Imperial, they are often the best things about the Marvel cosmic crossover events.
Their back-and-forth dialogue makes them a great buddy-hero duo, and they elevate every story they appear in together, bringing out the best in each other. Even when Marvel attempted to introduce a romantic love triangle involving the two heroes and Gamora, most fans were more interested in the bromance between Nova and Star-Lord, rather than the romance that MCU fans had grown to love.
1) Luke Cage & Iron Fist
The biggest fan-favorite duo in Marvel Comics history is one of the oldest and most respected. Initially known as Power Man and Iron Fist, the partnership between Luke Cage and Danny Rand has endured the test of time. In the start, it was a way for Marvel to capitalize on the blaxploitation and kung-fu movie crazes of the 70s, teaming up the two street-level heroes as Heroes for Hire.
Even when Luke Cage married Jessica Jones and tried to settle down, he always ended up gravitating back to Iron Fist, and the two remained a beloved duo that defended people of New York City as two of Marvel’s most powerful street-level heroes. Out of all the Marvel Comics duos, there isn’t anyone better than Luke Cage and Iron Fist.
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Image courtesy of Focus Features.
