The Best ‘Best Friends’ in Comics

Everyone needs a friend, and that is certainly true of comic book superheroes.

As figures who are usually created from some sort of trauma and tragedy, and lead lonely lives of heroism they often must hide from those they love, superheroes (like celebrities) value the camaraderie, freedom and (in battle) protection they get from being buddies with a fellow costumed crimefighter.

For our part, we’ve selected 15 “best friends” from comic book lore that we believe represent the best examples of friendship in comic books (and/or at the most enjoyable to read).

It’s a safe bet that we all wish we could have a friendship like at least one duo on our list…

Honerable Mention: Jessica Jones & Hellcat

This one is worth honorable mention in that it’s actually pretty interesting: a comic book friendship that started onscreen, and is being retroactively built into the comic books!

In the Marvel Netflix series Jessica Jones, Patsy ‘Trish’ Walker (aka Hellcat) and Jessica Jones seem like a random pairing, but actresses Rachael Taylor and Krysten Ritter formed a great and dynamic friendship between their respective characters, with Trish being one of the only people immune to Jessica’s dour cynicism, and Jessica actually giving two sh**s about her friend Trish. 

The new comic book series Patsy Walker A.K.A. Hellcat! now follows Hellcat’s attempt to establish an agency for super powered people, and the recent “Best Frenemies” story arc made the introduction of Jessica Jones into Patsy’s life (spoiler: it’s not the smoothest meet-cute). The series’ creative team – Kate Leth and Brittney Williams – have already admitted to being influenced by the Jessica Jones TV series, so expect this friendship to be as strong on the comic page as it was onscreen. 

Hourman III & Snapper Carr

 

This may also be a little more obscure, unless you’re a comic fan who read the Hourman series of the late-90s/early-00s. That comic followed Hourman III,  a humanoid android from 853rd century who comes back to the modern age. Needing a coach on being human, Hourman III was taken under the wing of classic Justice League supporting character, Snapper Carr. 

Carr and Hourman (who was renamed Matthew Tyler) became best friends during the Hourman solo series (1999-2001), and it’s easy to see why: Carr helped Hourman conquer doubts about his humanity, and role as a hero/guardian of time; Hourman helped Carr over his deep-seeded depression over leaving the Justice League, losing his teleportation powers, and eventually losing his wife, as well. 

For a story about a time-hopping android, writer Grant Morrison managed to work in some pretty heavy ideas – but also forged a great friendship between two lesser-known DC characters. 

Archer & Armstrong

A product of the Valiant Comics movement of the early ’90s – and now re-launched under the modern Valiant imprint – Archer & Armstrong may not be as well-known to the masses (it’s the only entry on our list outside of DC & Marvel), but the duo definitely deserve a slot on this list. 

Armstrong is an immortal hedonist who has been alive for thousands of years; Archer is a Buddhist martial arts and marksman with a disturbing family history. In the modern comics, Archer was trained by his parents’ evil sect to become a living weapon designed to kill Armstrong; instead, the two become BFF’s, as fun-loving Armstrong educates his sheltered buddy on the ways of the world, while Archer helps ease Armstrong’s deep-seeded troubles, earned across lifetimse of tragedy and loss. 

While all that awesome friendship is happening, the pair also travel the world stopping evil cults. A pretty great read if you haven’t checked it out. 

Green Arrow & Green Lantern

 

 

Green Arrow (Oliver Queen) and Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) have had a longstanding friendship within the DC Universe, sharing a single Green Lantern / Green Arrow comic book in the ’70s and early ’80s.

In the ’80s and ’90s, as each character branched out into separate series, the connection between them became weaker, with the biggest milestone being Oliver Queen firing the arrow that killed Hal Jordan, after the former Green Lantern turned villain, and attempted to reboot the timestream in DC’s ’90s crossover event, “Zero Hour.” 

In the 21st century, as both Oliver Queen and Hal Jordan have been rebooted (both on the page and the screen), the Green Lantern/Green Arrow friendship has been largely left behind. Still, for fans of Silver Age DC Comics, that era is in part defined by the friendship between these two heroes. 

Spider-Woman & Captain Marvel

Captain Marvel (Carol Danvers) and Jessica Drew (Spider-Woman) are two Marvel characters who were originally popular in the ’70s-’80s era, but kind of fell off in the ’90s. However, both emerged from the ’00s as well-written, and interesting female superheroes, via titles like New Avengers and major Marvel crossover storylines like “Secret Invasion”. Both now have new solo comics to star in, with Captain Marvel about to join the MCU in her own solo film (starring Brie Larson). 

It’s no wonder then, that these two Marvel ladies make a great pair. 

Danvers and Drew have been appearing with increasing frequency in each other’s books, With Carol recently helping Jessica through the event of her pregnancy. While no official Spider-Woman/Captain Marvel miniseries has happened yet, it really needs to. 

 

The Hulk & Rick Jones

This is one entry that should probably come with an asterisk, since Rick Jones is technically a sidekick character who has been passed around the Marvel Comics Universe. The kid has fought alongside Captain America, The Avengers, Rom Spaceknight, has been the alter-ego of Captain Mar-Vell (and Genis-Vell), and a pivotal figure in cosmic events, more recently an expert hacker turned S.H.E.I.L.D. agent… but his original and most enduring relationship is with Bruce Banner/The Hulk. 

Rick Jones has seen The Hulk through his many phases, sometimes putting his safety at great risk to coral his green buddy. In recent comics, Rick has even become a Hulk-like creature himself (A-Bomb) and was corralled by Hulk’s new persona, “Doc Green,” adding yet another complicated dynamic to their relationship. It may feel like a marriage now, but the Jones/Hulk golden age friendship is a classic “a boy and his brute” pairing worth a spot on our list.  

Wolverine & Nightcrawler

This one is more for the older crowd of comic book fans, but that doesn’t make it any less significant. 

When Giant-Size X-Men introduced a new “international” team of X-Men in the 1970s, new team additions Wolverine and Nightcrawler struck up an early friendship that has lasted the test of time. Beyond being perhaps the most awesome drinking buddies in all of comics, it’s easy to see why the pair are such good friends: Nightcrawler is uniquely suited to see the compassionate “man” beneath the “beast” of Wolverine; Logan conversely holds Nightcrawler’s optimism and faith as a sort ofmoral compass that helps keep him on the right side of his humanity.

Over the years, these two characters probed deep philosophical questions together; endured the various tragedies and joys of X-Men life (including each of them “dying”) for a time; kicked some major ass (their power combo rocks), and gotten plenty drunk. Everything that great friendships are made of. 

 

Blue Beetle & Booster Gold

One of DC Comics’ better friendship pairings is no doubt Booster Gold and Blue Beetle (the Ted Kord version). Ted was a brillaint industrialist and crimefighter, while Booster was a selfish traveler from the future who came back seeking fame and glory as a superhero. When the two heroes both landed in the Justice League comic books of the late ’80s and early ’90s, they were paired together and became great friends. 

Things took a turn for the tragic when Blue Beetle eventually died at the hands of Booster’s faux-friend, Maxwell Lord – an event Booster tried to alter the timeline to fix, but could not. In some ways, the biggest testament to the two heroes’ friendship has been the aftermath of Ted’s death, which haunts Booster – quite literally when a reanimated Ted Kord attacked him during the “Blackest Night” crossover event.

Whether on TV or on the movie screen, the Booster Gold/Blue Beetle duo is something a lot of DC fans want to see. 

Harley Quinn & Poison Ivy

Harley Quinn is a household name now, thanks to the success of the Suicide Squad movie, but it took a long time developing the character after she first appeared in the ’90s Batman: The Animated Series cartoon series. Part of that development involved putting Harley alongside some DC comics characters besides Joker – and no one has been a better partner for her, than Poison Ivy. 

Starting on an episode of Batman: TAS, Ivy and Harley’s relationship went on to become a staple of both characters, with Ivy nursing Harley back to health after the events of “Earthquake”‘; the pair teaming with Catwoman for the Gotham City Sirens series; and even a romantic relationship being established as part of DC’s “New 52” reboot. 

These two Batman femme fatales are definitely the best of bad girl friends. With benefits. 

Jesse Custer & Cassidy

One of the more unusual friendships in comics is one that only Preacher creator Garth Ennis could think up: a hedonistic and nihilistic vampire drug addict hooks up with a former criminal-turned-preacher who’s possessed by a half-angel, half-demon entity that gives him power of the voice of God. Your typical odd couple. 

Preacher has had a celebrated cult-favorite status in comics in large part because of the unique character dynamics (between Jesse, Cassidy and Tulip O’Hare), but for our part, the Jesse/Cassidy relationship was a standout. 

Now non-comic readers are getting to enjoy the offbeat weirdness of this comic book friendship: Jesse and Cassidy now entertain a much wider audience on the Preacher AMC TV series, with actors Dominic Cooper and Joseph Gilgun doing respective justice to the characters and their chemistry. 

Spider-Man & Human Torch

This is one that can be easy to confuse, since both of these loudmouth, trash-talking characters have other friends they’re close with. However, real Marvel Comics fans know that there is no friendship quite like the long-lasting Spider-Man/Human Torch bromance.

Spider-Man and Human Torch have one of those classic “bro” relationships, built entirely on teasing or pranking one another, while rarely acknowledging the significance of their friendship bond. However, in recent years, when the Human Torch seemingly died, it was an event that clearly affected Spider-Man, as the Web-Slinger tried to honor his dead friend by taking his place on the Fantastic Four roster. Peter Parker allowed Johnny Storm to become his roommate after the dead hero was found to be alive, creating even better (read: hilariously chaotic) relationship dynamics between the two. 

Deadpool & Cable

This X-Men universe odd-pairing has turned out to be one of the most successful in comics: who knew that Deadpool and Cable would work so well together? 

Ironically, Deadpool started out as a your garden variety mercenary (long before his 4th wall-breaking antics), on assignment to kill Cable. The two would spar throughout New Mutants comics of the late ’80s and in the first volume of the X-Force comic book series. In 2004 the pair headlined their own series together following the the cancellation of their respective solo series. The Cable & Deadpool comic stormed through the mid-2000s earning a substantial fan following, until the pair once again broke off into solo series in 2008. 

Besides the great chemistry between gruff, righteous, world-weary soldier Cable – and spastic, amoral, irreverent, Deadpool, the series embraced a lot of the heightened comedic hijinks (like 4th wall breaks) that have made Deadpool a comic book (and now film) superstar. 

In fact, Cable & Deadpool is such a great pairing that it’s actually the basis for Deadpool 2. We’re still waiting to see who will play Cable opposite Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool. 

Luke Cage & Iron Fist

They say you should keep your friends and your business completely separated, but in the case of Luke Cage and Iron Fist (aka Danny Rand), getting money as superhero partners is what it’s all about. 

When both the  Power Man and Iron Fist solo comic book series started to flounder in the late ’70s, Marvel teamed the two heroes up in one book, renaming Power Man as Power and Iron Fist starting with issue #50. That series was somewhat campy, but the street-wise edge of Luke Cage paired with Danny Rand’s eastern philosophy mindset, was solid. In fact, the after their team-up book got canceled, Marvel used the Power Man/Iron Fist dynamic to help launch a ’90s Heroes for Hire series that had Danny Rand, Luke Cage, and showcased other now-popular Marvel heroes. 

Luke Cage and Iron Fist have become such an iconic duo that both characters have upcoming Netflix solo series that will crossover with one another, leading to a larger Defenders team-up event, and after that (hopefully) a Heroes for Hire series? 

Flash & Green Lantern

What makes the Flash / Green Lantern pairing so good is that it works through multiple iterations of both characters (and has). In the ’90s we saw the pairing of Wally West and Kyle Rayner, who had a nice kind of awkward friendship dynamic – but the ’00s have thankfully returned us to the most enduring Flash/GL friendship, with the respective resurrections of Barry Allen and Hal Jordan. 

Barry and Hal are two superhero buddies that are easy to imagine being out in a bar, serving as each other’s wingman. Barry’s tempered and optimistic good nature is a great foil to Hal’s fearless brashness and arrogance. In fact, those personality traits and the friendship bond they create was crucial in helping to save the universe during the “Blackest Night” crossover event.

With both Barry and Hal having faced death, only to be rewarded with a second chance at life, their friendship has been even more interesting than ever. Before the DCEU, there were rumors that we could see a Flash/Green Lantern movie, and that’s something that most DC fans probably still want.

Captain America, Falcon & Bucky

We’re flubbing the rules a bit by making this one into a trio – but honestly, at this point, it’s so debatable which one of the Captain America’s sidekicks/friends/mantle inheritors is the “best” friend that we’re not even going to bother. Captain America has, at one time or another, relied on both Bucky “Winter Soldier” Barnes and Sam “Falcon” Wilson as a friend and confident – and fans have a lot of love for the dynamics between Cap and each of his BFFs. 

With Bucky, there’s Golden Age memories of Cap’s WWII adventures with his plucky sidekick. In modern times, there’s the now-famous arc of Bucky’s return from the dead as Winter Soldier, and his eventual inheritance of the Captain America mantle when Steve Rogers was seemingly assassinated. 

With Falcon, there’s fond memories of Silver Age Captain America’s adventures, and the eventual evolution of Falcon into a prominent Avenger – and nowadays, the new Captain America. 

The trio continues to shine onscreen, as Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Captain America: Civil War made Cap’s friendships with Falcon and Bucky standout elements of both films. 

Batman & Superman

 

This is the biggest superhero friendship of them all. It’s a relationship that forms the poles of the DC Universe; countless famous comic book stories; TV and movie event crossovers, and so much more. In fact, Batman and Superman’s bond has become a fixated part of modern culture, inspiring everything from scholarly theory and study, to a basic personality test that people judge themselves by (“Are you a Batman? Or a Superman?”).

…And it’s easy to see why: over the years, these two characters have become powerful contrasts of one another. Batman is a human being grown from tragedy, hardship, and loneliness, with a pessimistic view of the world. Superman is an alien immigrant grown from a life of love and support and guidance, who has an overwhelmingly optimistic view of the world. And though those differences in outlook cause them to sometimes clash, each hero has a fundamental underlying respect for the qualities the other man possesses. 

That’s not just the foundation for an iconic and enduring superhero friendship – it’s an example that we could all stand live by. 

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That’s our list: Who are your favorite comic book BFFS? Let us know in the comments or let me know on Twitter @ppnkof