5 Shameful DC Couples That Should Never Have Existed

Romance has always been and will always be a major part of comic books. Drama sells, and as much as comic book fans love to see their heroes punch a villain, we also love to see them live lives and fall in love. And more often than not, very messily fall out of love. Some comic book couples are iconic; Superman and Lois Lane, Green Arrow and Black Canary, Batman and Catwoman. Unfortunately, not every relationship in comics is great. Many are just fine, but a special few are very, very bad. Those are the subject of our regrettable history lesson today.

We’re going to look at five of DC’s absolute worst couples and relationships, and wonder what on Earth went through anyone’s heads while they were writing them. There have been many horrible hero relationships over the years, but these ones all take the cake for being especially regrettable, and while it’s best that we forget about all of them, today we’re staring them right in the face. So without further ado, let’s get started.

5) Superman and Wonder Woman

This entry is a bit strange, because I’ve never been offended by the idea of it. I’m perfectly fine with it in concept if it’s done right, and the occasional Elseworlds of it could be fun, but there are two major problems with it. One is that Superman and Wonder Woman work way better as friends than dating. They’re two of the best friends in the multiverse, and I’d much rather see that explored more than have relationship drama thrown around. Second, them being together takes them away from much better relationships.

Lois Lane and Superman are the most iconic couple in comic books and one of the most iconic relationships of all time. Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor sit right next to them as just as good but severely underrated. Both of these pairings are infinitely better for each character and their narratives than Wonder Woman and Superman dating. The idea of two of the strongest, most popular, and most important heroes dating might make sense on paper, but in reality, they’re much better as buddies.

4) Donna Troy and Terry Long

The most confusing part of this relationship is how it lasted so long. For one, there’s a massive age gap, as they started dating while Donna was still a teenager, and by then Terry had already been divorced and had a kid. A fully grown man with a beard constantly hanging around Titans Tower with a bunch of teenagers is just a very creepy image to see as often as we did. They were both adults, so the difference in ages can be forgiven, but what can’t be overlooked is how Terry was a terrible partner. He would constantly flirt with other women the second he had a chance, including Donna’s own teammates, and he would do this in front of her. 

This relationship was doomed, however, as eventually Terry decided that Donna was too dangerous to be around their son and he not only filed for divorce, but a restraining order. Terry and his two children would be killed in a car accident, and promptly swept under the rug for all of time. Between this horrible divorce and the consistently inconsistent origin, you really do have to feel bad for Donna.

3) Lex Luthor and Supergirl

Yes, in the ‘90s Lex once dated Supergirl, but not the Supergirl most people know. This was Matrix, a protoplasmic entity from a destroyed pocket universe that came to live with the Kents and take on the Supergirl identity, created by that world’s Lex Luthor. Here, Lex is in a clone body and posing as his own son, but even these identity shenanigans doesn’t make this situation any less gross. The picture says it all, given that Supergirl directly calls out her boyfriend’s resemblance to what is effectively her dad. That’s not good in any universe.

The whole situation gets even worse when it comes out that Lex, unsurprisingly, was manipulating Matrix to get back at Superman, using her as a bodyguard so he could stay protected while he planned to take down the Man of Steel for good. Lex is always a manipulator, and this is certainly one of his worst showcases of it. 

2) Batman and Batgirl

This relationship is thankfully only canon to the Batman Beyond 2.0 comics, but even there it is far too much. As the panels above show, Batman and Barbara had an affair while Dick Grayson was away, despite the fact that Dick and Barbara were clearly involved at the time. I cannot stress enough how disgusting it is to have Bruce have sex with his son’s girlfriend, who also happens to be his best friend’s daughter. Dick cut all ties with Bruce and Barbara after this revelation, and I cannot blame him in the slightest.

Batman and Batgirl have always been such a weird pairing. Barbara was originally introduced as being attracted to Batman, but even then she was this weird, nebulous age between Bruce and Dick. Eventually, she was de-aged a bit and became the main love interest of Dick, which makes her getting pregnant by Bruce here all the worse. This pairing goes so far beyond messy and terrible that I am bewildered that it hasn’t earned the last place on this list.

1) Hal Jordan and Arisia

This is the worst relationship DC has ever done, and that bar is unfathomably high. When Arisia was first introduced, she was Hal’s thirteen year old Green Lantern sidekick. Hal would even refer to her as his little sister. While working with him, she developed a precocious crush on him, which Hal obviously rejected as any sane person should. But it all got atrocious when Arisia subconsciously used her power ring to age herself into an adult, and suddenly Hal accepted all of her advances. 

Now, the book goes out of its way to establish that Arisia aged up mentally as well as physically, and how her planet had one year for each of Earth’s one, so really she was twenty six from the start, but that doesn’t make any of this okay. Hal repeatedly called her his little sister, and said again and again how he saw her as a child. Despite all of that, someone still decided it was a good idea for them to enter a very long relationship, which makes everyone uncomfortable. Forget Parallax, this is easily the worst thing Hal Jordan’s ever done, and deserves to be buried forever.

So there we have five of DC’s most regrettable couples. There are, unfortunately, plenty of other pairings that could have made this list. Sometimes, instead of considering dynamics, personalities, or even common sense, some writers will look at two characters and decide they just have to kiss, which is where all of the problems start. Which DC couple do you think is the absolute worst? What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!