There’s always something fun about the quirky, organic partnerships that grow up between two characters in comics. Sometimes they’re done for mercenary reasons, like the need to combine two low-selling books into one moderate-selling title (like, say, slapping together a martial artist from the lost realm of K’un L’un and a street-smart super-strong hero for hire.) Sometimes they’re the result of a writer that decides the two characters fit together, and who does such a good job of selling it that the two become inextricably linked (like, say, an impossibly erudite blue-furred mutant and a self-doubting titan of strength and invulnerability.) Whether you love Blue Beetle and Booster Gold, Green Arrow and Green Lantern, or Black Canary and Oracle, those unplanned pairings are part of the fun of comics. And since there are a few characters floating around in the wake of recent cancellations, I thought I’d suggest some places for DC and Marvel to put them before they get around to killing them off.
1) Blue Beetle and Static. Both of these characters have a lot in common. They’re both fairly well-known to non-comics fans through other media (the ‘Brave and the Bold’ cartoon, the ‘Static Shock’ cartoon), but have never quite found enough of an audience in comics to sustain them long term. They’re both young men trying to learn how to be heroes. They’re both ethnically diverse in a comics universe that still has problems with that. The two of them could very well make a team that makes people forget Ted and Booster.
2) X-23 and the Winter Soldier. Two former killers, each trying to redeem their troubled pasts. Both of them are at the same time worldly-wise and strangers to real life. Both of them are the kind of badasses that comics fans gravitate to. It’d be interesting to see the original Bucky trying to take on a mentor role, especially when he doesn’t feel like he necessarily knows himself enough to strike out on his own.
3) Mister Terrific and Grifter. One of them has a plan for everything, the other can barely figure out where his next paycheck is coming from. One of them is a super-genius, the other is a killing machine. One of them needs the other’s help…but which one?
4) Daken and Deadpool. Let’s face it, if there is one creation that has completely and totally flopped, it’s “Dark Wolverine”. The concept of an emo teenage Wolverine with daddy issues practically screams, “Hate me!” and none of the stories he’s appeared in have ever shaken that notion. So why not make him the butt of Deadpool’s jokes? A Looney Toons-style romp between two characters whose healing factors make them unkillable, one of whom is utterly insane and the other of whom makes the perfect straight man could be the first Daken comic actually worth reading.
5) Ghost Rider and Doctor Strange. Actually, how has this not happened already? I mean, you’ve got the Sorcerer Supreme and a guy struggling to keep a demon contained within his body. Doc Strange has a habit of gathering together misfits and outcasts and making teams out of them, and Johnny Blaze clearly needs a mystic mentor. This just feels like something that should have been done ages ago.
Any partnerships you’d like to see becoming the next World’s Finest? Share ’em in the comments!
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Beetle and Static does have a chance of being a new twist on the Blue and Gold (Static even has some yellow in his outfit). Static is the ‘smart one’ in this pairing, while Beetle is the guy with the powerful tech he just sort of stumbled onto. You even have a twist on the skeets dynamic with the Scarab. The twist is having them share some civilian time together. Maybe they are college roomates or something. The X-men have a school just for mutants, and the Titans mostly hang out at the tower, or go back to their own civilian lives. The dynamic of having a couple of kids that mutually share their super hero identity also having to deal with each other in civilian mode (especially with other people around, so a school setting would work) would be interesting.
X-23 and Winter Soldier does make an interesting team up. Wolvie and Cap aren’t really an iconic double act, but they are both tied together with the whole Weapon X thing, so their ‘offspring’ teaming up sort of fits. Plus, as you said, the ‘sidekick as mentor’ thing works. Hell, this pairing reminds me of the Grayson/Damian pairing, although that pairing had extra benefits (Dick Grayson’s light hearted nature making it an inversion of the classic Batman/Robin dynamic). The risk is if both characters are too similar. To set it up, you need for one of them to be maybe a few steps farther along the redemptive path, so you have a bit of a contrast. Say, Winter Soldier is (at least outwardly) optimistic that he (and X-23) can be redeemed, while she’s more skeptical, but still willing to follow due to lack of other options, etc.
Terrific and Grifter … seems like a random pairing, but they do have a bit of an odd couple vibe the way you sell it. Also, I’m not up on either character that much, but Mr. Terrific is invisible to technology (thanks to his nanotech), while Grifter has the Roddy Piper like ability of being the only person that can see (technically hear telepathic messages from) Daemonites. So in terms of Grifter vs. Daemonites, Mr. Terrific would make sense as an ally, since his technological wizardry (including ability to hide from it) would make for a potent alien fighting tandem.
Deadpool is easy to pair with anyone that works as a straightman. Deadpool and Wolverine would be some sort of wet dream at Marvel, considering how much money they must think they can get out of both guys. So using a pseudo-Wolverine is even better, as you don’t hurt Wolverine’s rep by having him allow Deadpool to get away with the crap he does [and Wolverine has sort of ‘grown up’ a lot in the comics, etc].
Ghost Rider is sort of a weird mix of the Spectre and the Demon, so the pairing does make sense, as we’ve seen Dr. Fate pair well with the Spectre and with Jason Blood in the past. Also, in addition to the magical/demon stuff, you also have the clash of philosophy to some extent. The whole ‘avenge the innocent’ thing that Ghost Rider does is sort of conflicting with the high level stuff that Dr. Strange deals with as the Sorceror Supreme.
As for ‘new’ partnerships?
Well, I’m a DC guy, so I won’t talk for Marvel.
Captain Atom and Booster Gold are both out of work … and well, they’ve had some previous interaction in the JLI, and they can easily be a comedy double act, with Cap as the straightman. The reason for the pairing though is simple, as both are time travellers. In the new continuity, Rip Hunter seems to be missing and time travel is trecherous (as seen by Legion Lost), but Booster, it would seem, retains his knowledge of the preboot universe. Thus, he knows about Rip Hunter’s job, but there doesn’t seem to be a Rip Hunter (that we know of). The quantum leaping ability of Captain Atom, while inefficient, could be a means for Booster to patrol the time stream.
The rare Spidey / Ms. Marvel team-up I’ve always loved.
Blue Beetle I’d partner up with Guy Gardner. Though Guy as a sporadic mentor-like figure for both Jaime and Virgil could certainly work.
I feel like the Wonder Women don’t pair up enough with the bat-family. They’ve always had a history in team titles, but that rarely moves into the solo books. I propose a duo book, a la batman/superman, but that features various team-ups between the themiscyrans and bat-family through the ages; from Batman/Wonder Woman to Stephanie Brown/Hyppolita to Kate Kane/Steve Trevor. That’d be awesome.
A Lois Lane/Mon-El mini-series. It’s high time Lois got her own book, but since DC is not willing to do that, let’s pitch that as a mini with her and Mon-El as the main duo. Superman has gone missing or something and it’s up to Lois to find him while Mon-El does what he can to protect the city. Or something.
A Fantomex/Mystique mini. They make sense together and Awesome + Awesome gets you Awesome. Nothing more to add.
The Question and Huntress series. I prefer Renee Montoya in the fedora, but Vic Sage would work really well too, given they already have a history.
Matches Malone and Onyx. Onyx has been missing since… forever, mostly, and I always wanted to see Matches in action as more than just a panel here and there. So, of course it’s some undercover story where Batman can’t show up, but Onyx is perfect for the job! with the inside assistance of Matches.
Martian Manhunter and Solomon Grundy. It makes sense to me, not sure why.
Off the top of my head. And without enough thought, probably. But anyways, albeit I’m sure that as soon as I post this I’ll come up with better ones, these will have to do for my ideas.
I have to say, I really like Blue Beetle and Static as a pairing. Not exactly ‘buddy comedy’, but I could certainly conceive of Batman pulling a couple of strings so that a pair of guys leaving their teens and heading off to college end up getting paired as roommates… and actually do fairly well as such. Nobody says they have to work together all the time, but time and again they find themselves stumbling over one another’s busts, until the fairly-likely partnership finally manifests.
Deadpool and Dr. Doom. That fool Richards would never see it coming. Or Deadpool and Batman. Two inner monologues at the same time, and occasionally DP’s could interrupt Batman’s. Maybe the monologues would end up fighting. Meanwhile Batman is trying not to think about chimichangas. The Joker would hate the two of them together more than anything.
I’ve got to say, Punisher plus (Anti-)Venom worked really well for the couple of issues we got. It only really worked with Eddie in the unkillable negative suit, though, since a lot of the dynamic was driven by Frank’s literal inability to kill the manic goofball who believed in a redemption Frank can’t acknowedge.
Ghost Rider and Doctor Strange, eh? I kinda want to see the doctor on a motorcycle. Maybe make it a road trip comic?
5) Ghost Rider and Doctor Strange. Actually, how has this not happened already?
Well, the “Midnight Sons” family of titles in the 90s was fairly close-knit, so I’m pretty sure they must have appeared in each others’ titles a lot, but if you mean specifically an ongoing duo, fair enough.
The first thing that jumps out at me about it is their power levels. Off the top of my head, I can’t think of any successful teamup of two characters both of whom have power at the “nigh-godlike” level. Almost all teamups seem to be either two weak characters fighting things they couldn’t handle alone, or one strong and one weak character where the weaker one becomes the brains of the pair and they have to learn to get along. (This doesn’t really apply to ensemble all-star casts like the Avengers or JLA, or crossovers involving half a dozen powerful characters, just duos.)
I’m sure there’s some exceptions somewhere or other, and maybe there’s a big obvious exception I’ve missed, but that seems to cover 90 to 95 percent of the cases. And you can’t really fit Dr. Strange and Ghost Rider into either of those roles.
“The two of them could very well make a team that makes people forget Ted and Booster.”
Ha, no. Not a fucking chance.
How DID the Wonder Man/Beast teamup happen? I still can’t see it.
I still think the Spiderman/Human Torch “I’m With Stupid” series was the best thing Slott’s ever written. And Cable & Deadpool worked amazingly well.
There’s an untapped market of villain team-ups here too. And while he’s less villainous these days, I think a Magneto team-up that forces him into a mentor role could be interesting, as long as you could dig up a younger mutant with an appropriate level of power potential. Given that Juggernaut’s team-up with Black Tom always had a surrogate father sort of vibe, something that puts Cain in the elder role could be interesting too. And Trapster striking off from the Wizard to form a more equal partnership is something I’d like to see.
…I guess I just have *half* teamup suggestions. Oh well.
I love the idea of a Blue Beetle/Static teamup, as long as we can set it in El Paso so we don’t lose the Reyes family.
I’d like to see a Ghost Rider/Punisher teamup. Ghost Rider suddenly is facing off against a truly organized group of demons threatening the world. A month before, Punisher killed half a mob family, although the other half has seemingly become more powerful than before. Turns out, when the mobsters went to hell, they weren’t punished, they just got promoted. Now Ghost Rider and Punisher must fight organized crime spanning two mortal planes. And Punisher must weigh his need for vengeance with the need to redeem these criminals, because if he just kills them, they’ll only become stronger.
Red Robin and Rex the Wonder Dog!
Given that Juggernaut’s team-up with Black Tom always had a surrogate father sort of vibe, something that puts Cain in the elder role could be interesting too.
The Juggernaut reformed, got partially depowered, and was a member of the X-Men for a while, and he kind of had a surrogate father relationship with a mutant kid with fish powers. It was during Chuck Austen’s run, and I’d say it was the best thing Austen did in his superhero comics career.
OK, that’s damning with faint praise. I’d also say it was a downright good idea, even if it was his only one. The Juggernaut’s usefulness as a villain comes from his vast power, but as a character his motivation is surprisingly weak, and I think his reform might have stuck if it hadn’t come from Chuck Austen. He could be a teacher in Wolverine’s school right now, think of the potential…
How DID the Wonder Man/Beast teamup happen? I still can’t see it.
I wasn’t reading comics at the time, but I’d guess they were both just on the Avengers and good foils for one another.
Austen wasn’t the man who made the Juggernaut reform from whole cloth; there was a build that put it in place and Austen was just the triggerman.
I like Daken when he’s trolling people. When he was a Dark Avenger and Norman Osborn was all “I’m gonna make a hero outta you, boy,” and Daken replies “you mean like Spider-Man?” with that precious smile on his face . . . it was just perfect.
I still think Deadpool and Fightman should team up.
The origin of Wonder Man/Beast can be found here (last entry)…
http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2012/05/06/when-we-first-met-a-handful-of-avengers-firsts/
Amadeus Cho & Layla Miller. The seventh-smartest person in the world and the girl who knows everything. Works betters outside 616, given that Layla is older and hooked up with Madrox.
Daredevil and Nightcrawler. Catholics. Acrobats. Swashbucklers. Demonic-looking outsiders. They’ve got a lot in common, but they’re also very much an odd couple. Nightcrawler is a cheerful movie-loving circus performer whose faith is a source of comfort, Daredevil is a grim blind lawyer whose religious background is mostly tied to the guilt that often drives him and his deeply confusing relationship with the mother who left them to become a nun. The high-rise action set pieces they could have would be spectacular, and the conversations they could have would be fascinating.
I don’t think they’re doing nearly enough with Cain Marko right now. He needs to be interacting with Colossus, who clearly can’t handle the Juggernaut power the way Cain did, and I think he’d be great as a lecturer at Wolverine’s school, illustrating the dangers of letting your powers define you. Cain’s a great character in the hands of the right writers, and stripped of his powers he has a lot of really great stories surrounding him.
I’ve been rooting for a Virgil and Jaime teamup just so they can bill it as “Black & Blue”.
That, and they’re awesome characters who would riff well off one another anyway.
Daredevil and Nightcrawler sounds like an awesome team, especially since I don’t think mot X-Men other than Wolverine get out of their little mutants only corner of the universe nearly enough.
Speaking of team-ups though, has anyone else seen the latest announcement about this “Alpha character that Dan Slott’s been promoting? Apparently he’s to be Spidey’s teen sidekick. SOunds weird as hell to me and I think it’s another case of Slott getting way too into his idea of “Spider-Man’s in the big leagues now!” and missing the core appeal of the character, that of the hated everyman.
It’s been my feeling that since Marvel and DC lately have been trying to amp up their homosexual couples to garner a headline or two, why not hook up Daken and Shinobi Shaw?
Both have been heavily implied to be bi, both have major daddy issues, both like hanging out in Japan. Just make them a supervillan power couple.
And before you say Shinobi is dead, those Necrosha leftovers from a few years ago are resurfacing in New Mutants.
I third the motion for Daredevil & Nightcrawler. Great concept!
Thanos and the Magus.
Thanos and Adam Warlock have paired up a bunch of times; it’d be interesting to see Adam as the Magus pair up with Thanos. True, the Magus is a total prick, but he’s a jolly prick – which offsets Thanos’s grim brooding – and a little rewriting could have him doing the “cosmic antihero” thing that Thanos has done time and again. (After all, his original thing was that he was a total asshole but the only one who could stand up to Thanos’s omnicidal plans, so he’s already got kind of an antihero origin.)
Two scheming, cosmic anti-hero masterminds, in a comic about their antiheroic cosmic schemes.
Red Robin and Rex the Wonder Dog!
Rex the M-F Wonder Dog/Ace the Bat-hound helping out a fellow canine improve his profile and awesomeness level.
This, I’d pay to read.
Black Panther and Black Cat.
Names? Hilarious. Both are “sneaky” heroes. Also, BP has a thing for white haired chicks
Black Panther and Iron Fist
I’m pretty sure T’Challa has teamed up with Luke Cage like a million times, why not with Danny for once? Also, they, more than any other Marvel hero, have heroic legacies that stretch back for hundreds of years. (You can probably add Black Knight to that list, I think, but c’mon, no one likes Black Knight.)
Gargoyle and Captain America
Gargoyle, a WWI veteran, is one of the few people who can legitimately call Steve Rogers a kid.
I fourth Nightcrawler and Daredevil. That sounds pretty amazing.
Black Panther and Iron Fist makes a lot of sense to me. Black Panther’s funky advanced technology contrasted with Iron Fist’s funky magic powers could be fun as well.
Have Moon Knight and the Punisher ever teamed up?
Priest actually had a Black Panther/Iron Fist bit in his Black Panther run. Like the rest of that run, it was amazing.
Daredevil and Nightcrawler is just brilliant, and the person that came up with it should pitch it to Marvel. 🙂
Moon Knight and the Punisher have teamed up a few times. Personally, I think Blade and Moon Knight would make a good team-up, going back to Moon Knight’s Werewolf-hunter roots.
Iron Man and Dr. Strange really work interestingly well together, as the entire Wraith arc in Marvel Team-Up proved. I’d like to see more of that.
Daredevil + Nightcrawler = YES
Moon Knight + Mister Miracle, if only for the clash in costume design (and I’m a fan of both from way back).
Anyone else remember back in the day when they did one-shot giant-sized teamups of Superman/Spiderman, Batman/Hulk, and X-Men/Teen Titans? As I recall, that last one had a pretty major teaser regarding the return of Jean Grey. Would Marvel/DC ever consider teaming up these days, though?
I like black Knight. 🙁
Someone I’ve always liked (I know, everyone’s got a pet) that would be an interesting mentor would be Puck. World traveler, badass semi-normal guy with an evil sorcerer trapped in his body. Hard part is finding the other half of the couple.
Good list, good list. Static and Blue would be like the Troy and Abed of the DCU. Yes, I know they are very different characters, but more in the sense that they’d be self-aware serial dorks who could pull off a heterosexual comedy life-partners thing without much difference in writing. It also helps their chemistry that they are both very similar to Spider-Man in the first place.
Mr. Terrific and Grifter is one of those relationships that sounds weird when you say it, but then comes off as genius. Both the characters arguably play better when they have a foil to play off, and it’s not that hard to write Mr. Terrific into discovering the whole thing with Daemonites, especially with his nanomask. DC has a habit of pairing up odd couples (GL and GA, Hawkman and Atom, etc), and this feels like a good way to put two guys who probably can’t hold a single book together in one.
X-23 and Winter Soldier are great in the sense that instead of the contrast you get from the Wolverine/Cap dynamic, it’s really two characters who relate to each other in ways that others can’t: They’ve both been mind-controlled weapons, have been fighting since an early age, and both are carrying legacies.
I hate Daken, which is probably why I don’t care for pairing him with Deadpool.
Ghost Rider and Dr. Strange is interesting. I can’t say much more because my familiarity with GR is lacking, but it fits with what little I know.
Red Hulk goes crazy and Doc Samson recruits Ben Grimm to help him look for the guy. Guest-starring Submariner, Hercules, Iron Man, Thor, Wonderman, Luke Cage, Colossus, you get the idea. Villains, the Absorbing Man, The Wrecking Crew, Titanium Man, the Sentinels, etc. Stan would have a field day writing the cover copy!
She-Hulk as Loki’s lawyer suing the toga off that cosmic voyeur, The Watcher!
Bruce Banner and Hank Pym in the Micro World!
Sue Storm and the Big Green Guy as cosmic gladiators — but Hulk must defend and Sue must attack!
I remember Cassandra Cain and Connor Kent had a couple team-ups back in the day. They had some really good chemistry and formed some interesting contrasts and comparisons – in fact, I’d say they made a much better love interest than Superboy and Wonder Girl. It’s not a partnership that’s had any chance of working out since Geoff Johns’s Titans run, but I think it might be cool to see again (though that could just be my bitterness towards Cain’s seeming elimination from continuity).
Green Arrow and Guy Gardner. It writes itself.
John . .. if you ever opt for “Worlds’ Finest,” I’d like to recommend Barry Allen & Peter Parker. Comic geeks who are science-oriented, even if most people don’t realize that about ’em. Even with the different power-sets, it seems like a natural partnership.
@LegionQuest
IIRC, Daken is asexual (he does it for non-sexual benefits) and Shinobi is omnisexual (all the guy needs is an available orifice). Then again, that information comes from behind the scenes chatter and not actual canon.
I’m way late to this, but has ANY Batman/DC writer actually put Poison Ivy and Ras Al-Ghul together? I don’t mean special issue crossover, either, I mean flat out “we are both insane egomaniacs with a passion for making others do our bidding and destroying the world to make a better one; how are we not having our third kid yet?” level uniting.
By Batman standards, they seem prefect for each other.
Puck + Moon Knight
(with the caveat that the story explicitly retcons away that whole ridiculous Puck-is-really-a-tall-old-dude bullspew)