Editorial: Lack of Respect For Marriage in Comics

Warning: The Following contains spoilers from AvX #9 and more.

  Years ago, I went to my comic book shop and bought X-Men # 30, the wedding of Jean Grey and Scott Summers. For years, I would reread that very issue; merely enjoying the love of the characters had for each other and those around them. And then Grant Morrison's New X-Men happened and Scott Summers ended up having a psychic affair with Emma Frost, which became physical. Jean Grey died ... again and Scott moved on as he and Emma fell in love with each other.

Look at that. STAN LEE married Luke & Jessica! WTH Marvel!

  Fast forward to about 5 to 6 years ago. New Avengers were young in their first volume but Luke Cage's character rose. He and his long time love, Jessica Jones, tied the knot in New Avengers Annual # 1. They ended up having a daughter, Danielle, named after Luke's best friend, Danny Rand aka Iron Fist. They ended up buying the Avengers Mansion for a $1 ... I am not kidding. New Avengers Volume 2, # 1 for that one folks ... and they had become full fledged Avengers while Squirrel Girl became their babysitter.

  Go back about 7 years ago, during the time of Civil War where hero was fighting hero ... but the X-Men were out of it at this point. Captain America was on one side while Iron Man was on the other. The breather between the event happened to be the nuptials of T'Challa, long time Avenger Black Panther, and Storm, former leader of the X-Men. They had wed and became King and Queen of Wakanda. They also served a small stint on the Fantastic Four, allowing Reed and Sue to FINALLY have a honeymoon. The Watcher said they were gonna have children! The WATCHER! Freakin' Uatu! Said that T'Challa and Ororo would have CHILDREN! And they have been married since then ... UNTIL TODAY.

Black Panther's & Storm's Wedding

 Which gets to the bulk of my article. Marvel ... more so then any  Other comic book company, it seems, seem to not enjoy having their characters stay married anymore. And while I understand the divorce rate is 50% in the country of the United States and wanting to reflect society, some of these marriages desolving his troublesome. Now, motivations-wise, I can understand some marriage falling apart. Like Scarlet Witch and Visions.  Even Scott and Jean's I can understand.

 But there are some break ups that I'm just scratching my head over. Like Storm and Black Panther. THIS MAKES NO SENSE! Time and again, Storm has reached out to her husband and her husband is like I love you but I need to figure my way alone. Once I do,  I will come back to you. And Yet ... He annuls their marriage today. Why? I don't know?  Does he blame her for what happened or not telling him about the Phoenix? I don't know. And while in some cases, that translates to a relate-able marriage ... I do not believe that THIS would be true grounds for T'Challa to give up on his wife. Not after EVERYTHING they've been through together over the last several years. It just comes out of nowhere. Marriage counselling I see. Annulment? NO!

   Then, at the top of AvX, Jessica Jones decides to leave her husband, Luke Cage. Just 2 minutes before, he announced to the world that he wants nothing more than his wife and child. Granted, Jessica ran from him before but I figured that  1- Jessica knew what she was getting into when she joined the Avengers and married Luke Cage. 2- Even with a child, what makes her think she is REALLY any safer alone. Especially after having her face plastered on tv who knows how many times by now. So ... she ran. To take care of her child. Admirable. But still, logically ... she has a better chance WITH The Avengers than not. And Luke ... 2 minutes ago, you said you wanted nothing more than your wife and child ... on National TV .... but then you decide its important to fight the X-Men; when clearly ... the reason why is still kind of up in the air. Damn it Luke! You are better than that. *sigh*

  Oh. Marvel isn't the only culprit. Let's see ... ah yes. DC. Their reboot of Superman has brought so many new people to the book. And it is understandable ... to all but this.. . Lois and Clark had been married for nearly 15 FRELLIN' Years ... and that got all erased so they can have a new history. Sure ... we get to see Clark and Lois go through it all over again. But this time, there is no guarantee that they will end up together.

 And who can forget DC for breaking up Donna and Terry. Cause Terry suddenly decided, after them having a child, that super heroics was a no no ... even though Terry had stood by her as a hero for YEARS. Terry damn well knew what he was getting into when he married her. They had a child together. He even helped her with looking after the Team Titans (I know, obscure) but decided all of a sudden ... "Nope. Don't want to stay with you anymore after all these years."  So yay! Break up a marriage for convenience. Yay!

  And on top of that, let's go to the dozens and dozens of heroes and/or heroines who have had extra-marital or out of relationship affairs:  Omni-man, Green Arrow, Green Lantern, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Psylocke (twice), Gambit, Kyle Rayner, Havok, Kendra Saunders, Dick Grayson (how can you not know the person you are sleep with is not different when you have sex, even if they are a shape shifter), etc.

  But let me get to the easiest, most heinous of all marriage break ups that were pure and utter bullshit. Yes. I am speaking about THAT storyline. ONE. MORE. DAY.  And now, I have enraged probably half my readership by saying those three words. Yep. One More Day. The storyline that rebooted Spidey from long-time, happily married man, into the single man he has now become. Quesada has gone on print back when the storyline first came out stating that him being single will open more doors to Spiderman, storywise and him being married was holding him back. WHAT?! They were married for YEARS and you decided that that marriage couldn't work in upcoming storylines. WHAT?! They never even divorced. Spidey made a deal with the devil ... the freakin' devil ... to save Aunt May ... who had died before already. Sure, she was a clone but still ... save Aunt May for his marriage.

   What the frell?!

  While overall, some of these marriages coming apart are good and natural. There are these others that make me wonder what is on the minds of the writers and why do this. I understand divorce rate is 50% but it is looking like 80 to 90% in comics now. While life should be seen in multifaceted ways, this trend is starting to get REALLY disturbing. Makes you think about it, huh?

My name is Frankie Rodriguez and these are my thoughts.