Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Your opinions on Legion romances

What are your thoughts on the various Legion romantic relationships?
Just what has been shown on panel, please, even if it was one-sided. No headcanons.

The only one that every continuity simply can't miss is of course Saturn Girl / Lightning Lad... that's like doing Fantastic Four without Reed/Susan, it just doesn't work.
I've liked their ups and downs in every incarnation, though the Threeboot didn't have the time to do anything interesting.

My favorite relationships are Mon-El/Shadow Lass and Cosmic Boy/Night Girl. They felt the most real... a lot less soap opera stuff than the other couples, which was really refreshing! I'm glad that most other relationships weren't like that (it would be pretty boring if every character had a normal and healthy relationship), but things were refreshingly simple.
Closely followed by Bouncing Boy/Duo Damsel, which we didn't see as much but they always seemed like a great couple.

On the complete opposite side of the spectrum, things could be TOO rocky between Light Lass and Timber Wolf, but it could get very entertaining. Violet was arguably a better match for Light Lass, we didn't see nearly enough of them.

I found Ultra Boy/Phantom Girl very boring pre-Crisis, but the reboot version is my favorite for that era since Mon-El/Shadow Lass and Cosmic Boy/Night Girl were not a thing.

Brainiac 5 is my favorite Legionnaire but I never really cared that much for his mostly one sided relationship with Supergirl/Andromeda... I just didn't find their interactions that interesting. Oddly enough I think the best one could've been with Dream Girl in the threeboot if only there was more time to develop them, their verbal sparring was immensely entertaining.

Wildfire is my second favorite; this might be a controversial opinion but I never cared for his relationship with Dawnstare. Mostly because I didn't like how she treated him most of the time, it could get pretty ridiculous sometimes.

In terms of crushes, Duo Damsel/Superboy was probably the one treated the most realistically... she wasn't madly in love, she just got over it, and I don't think he ever even noticed. And Blok/White Witch was just adorable.

Element Lad/Shvaughn was very good, especially in the Baxter era. It's not one of the best superhero/civilians only because he's in a team with so many members that we don't spend a lot of time with them.


I think we can all agree Violet/Duplicate Boy was the worst one and that nobody has ever been more boring on this topic than Superboy. Did he ever show interest in ANYONE, even for just a panel? And no Insect Queen doesn't count :-)


I don't have much to say about Star Boy/Dream Girl, Colossal Boy/Violet and way too many others (I'm sure I'm forgetting at least one of the important ones), but I'm curious to know which ones are your favorites and which ones you never cared for.

I would like to see Shrinking Violet get back together with Duplicate Boy. I rather liked that not all Legion relationships involved the core group.

One of my favourite will always be Karate Kid and Princess Projectra. That was the one that felt "real" to me anyway. And I agree with you about Cosmic Boy and Night Girl.

Apparition and Ultra Boy in the Reboot, for sure. Also loved how Jo, despite being able to get anyone he wanted (i mean, come oooon, look at him) was so in love with Tinya he didn't even try while she was intangible. Wasn't too happy with the wrenches DnA threw in, not having them talk things out and all.

Garth and Imra... felt real. In the Reboot I mean. Garth being inept, Imra trying TOO hard to separate romance from work... Garth's impromptu proposal just before Legion of the Damned, is still one of my fave scenes ever.

I knew that I was forgetting to include a relationship that I really should've mentioned. Yes, that was one of the best ones, the only hiccup being the reason for Karate Kid needing to go back to the past in order to prove himself... that was kind of random.

Another vote for Postboot Apparition & Ultra Boy, though I concur with Ibby that DnA did them no favors (and I'm actually a fan of a lot of other DnA stuff, especially their early storylines.)

Tinya/ Jo: They are inseparable since Tinya stood by him when he was declared an outlaw and expelled. They've always seemed really into each other, and a self contained unit that would survive anything in the legion and beyond its end.

Imra/ Garth: A lot was made of them being willing to sacrifice their lives for each other. Imra supported Garth when he went through issues as leader. The couple everyone thought would get together, as long as one of them wasn't dead. There can be a little bit of distortion as people remember the best of lost, loved ones. With the Proty subplot, the Garth that returned from the dead, was everything the others considered heroic.

Ayla/ Brin: Like Tinya/Jo, Ayla stood by Brin. Unlike Jo, Brin is an emotionally stunted who annoys everyone about being alone, in every team situation going. Fortunately, Ayla dumped him after the GDS, and moved onto better things.

Vi/Ord: A long distance relationship that Vi could claim to have, without any sort of real emotional commitment. Ord looked far more likely to be playing the field away from his partner, but the circumstance may have suited him for exactly the same reasons.

Ayla/Vi: Vi's approach to her life, following her time in the sens tank, resulted in Ayla exploring new avenues in hers, emerging as a mission leader, her flirtation with Pol Krinn etc. T&M Bierbaum's dialogue in v4 made this one of my favourites as their level of commitment to each other came through.

Chuck/ Lu: One of the more mature romances as Lu gives up her love for the unattainable Kal. Chuck's has any number of qualities that come through in the Adventure era. While the story suggests that he gets the girl of his dreams, Lu has done incredibly well out of the match.

Nura/ Thom: Their sex life is great, but other than that, Thom is a bit dull for her and her lifestyle. How many times do you hear complaints that someone's partner isn't what they expected them to be. Thom's long since lost his original powers. He forgives her most things, but the make ups end when he feels compelled to leave the team.

Rokk/ Lydda: She's a hero groupie, but ends up doing most of the heavy lifting for the relationship. In part it's due to Rokk's war experience but mainly because there's actually not much depth beneath his still waters run deep personality that others think they see.

Tasmia/ Lar: Another example where one partner does some heavy lifting where required, in this case getting Lar through the trauma of the failing lead serum, and (as per 5YG) personality problems. Their love for each other is deep. While not spoken of, at its beginning, Tasmia chose to go after Lar after not getting far with Brainy. She proactively looked for her partner on the team.

Drake/ Dawnstar: Drake pretty much stalked Dawny at the Academy and is over protective towards her, eve butting in on her spiritual quest. But, as the Legion's first response team, they spend a lot of time in each other's company. They get on well together, while either of them can run their colleagues up the wrong way. There's also a subplot of one of them running hot while the other is cold through life quests and possession of humanoid forms.

Kara/Querl: This one looked be developing nicely in the Levitz era, before Kara had to leave. With Laurel/ Querl, TMK showed us what a relationship between the two over a longer period would have been like. Two personalities that are both very smart, but not alike, allowing for deeper connections to be made.

Garth & Imra had the most developed and mature relationship, in all the versions. It did feel real, with its ups and downs, but them always sticking together. I didn't like the Imra and Rokk as a couple, mainly because I was so used to Imra-Garth - and I really didn't like the triangle of the reboot. (Imra-Rokk in Superboy's Legion was okay, but had more of a summer romance feeling to it.) Jo and Tinya didn't have enough conflict in the original version and too much in the post-boot/DnA stories.

Chuck and Lu were so girl/boy next door, it was sweet even if it was kinda boring.

Brainy and Dream Girl was charming and funny and tragic until Jim Shooter made it supernaturally weird. Brainy and Supergirl wasn't that much of a relationship because of the time difference, but it had so much potential because of that. Brainy/Andromeda in the Legionnaires series didn't have the same feel as the other, with Supergirl always returning to the 20th century and Brainy knowing she would die.

One that never became a relationship was Tenzil and Violet - that one classic era story where he took her out dancing and the theme picked up in the Legionnaires series with him secretly in love with her - they might have made a good couple, like she was the only one he could be serious with.

Some of the others were interesting for their quirks - Shady's all-too-often clinginess with Mon-el, the Shvaughn/Sean/Jan mess, Gim & Yera and the deception. Wildfire and Dawnstar just got to be tiresome; I liked her doomed fling with Jhodan, though.

For the most part, I like all the canon couples on the original Legion.

Kara and Querl are probably always going to be my favorite Legion couple. I'm a sucker for tragic romance, so the time travel aspect, Querl being unable to interfere with her death, and Kara's commitmentphobia all combined to make something that really held my interest. And the fact that he's the only one of her love interests to continually stick around after 60 years says something. While I liked the SW6 version of Laurel with Querl, I want his 5YL version to stay 500 feet away from her. She was better off with Rond.

Ayla and Vi are also extremely important to me, as they were one of the first wlw couples I saw in media. Their development from friends to partners was extremely well done and felt really natural to me.

I strongly dislike Duplicate Boy and I even more strongly dislike his relationship with Violet. He has the personality of a soggy napkin and Salu is better off without him. I like Gim and Yera for what they became, but I was and continue to be uncomfortable with how their relationship started.

Drake & Dawny exhaust me with the constant back and forth. I think I just get tired of Drake yelling after her while she seems like she could care less.

PZH-wise, XS and Magno were pretty cute, and I wish they had gotten more development. I'll also join the crowd in echoing that Jo and Tinya in this era were very good, aside from the random marriage problems towards the end.

In Threeboot, I was intrigued by Nura and Querl, until Shooter came along and just... Ruined it. Everything interesting about Nura was stripped away when he took over and I don't even want to touch that terrible issue where she was attacked.

And despite their hurdles in that continuity, Garth and Imra are the one classic couple that not even Threeboot could separate. They really are the Legion couple.

The absolute worst ever was Shady/Earth Man. What the heck was Levitz thinking with that? At least the hints were that things were being righted at the very end of v7.

The Wildfire/Dawnstar one bugged me. He started out hitting on her when she was in the academy and he was a teacher. He was a hot head and she just seemed aloof for the most part. There was a scene later on when he didn?t need a suit but his touch left burn marks on her. Yuck

I like Wildfire and Dawny, but yeah when he was giving her radiation burns and she was all NO THIS IS VERY OKAY ACTUALLY that was quite skeevy....it's also weird that Dawny is vulnerable to radiation burns to begin with considering she flies around in space constantly with no problems. If she actually was written with the powers she must have to compliment her speed and her ability to survive in a vacuum she'd be so much more effective but that's a rant for another time lol

I think my fave Legion couples are:
Brainy & Kara (also I don't actually like Brainy & Laurel Gand together, but I did like them as exes in the 5YL Legion)
Cos & Lydda
Ayla & Vi
old school Jan & Shvaughn
Chuck & Lu (and I agree with thoth that Lu actually did way better out of that match than writers generally acknowledge)
Shady & Mon-El

I kind of expect Garth & Imra as well as Tinya & Jo to be together forever, but I think that's just because of how I see them rather than me having any particular investment in their relationships....it weirded me out every time they played up Imra & Cos because it's just so strange to consider Imra and Garth NOT being with each other.

Shady and Earth-Man I had bleached from my brain.....I don't know wtf Levitz was thinking putting an unrepentant nazi on the team or thinking it was at all believable that any of the old-school Legionnaires would even have a one-night stand with him let alone a relationship, gross!

And I too think Vi and Tenzil would have been a good match up, and it probably would have kept him on the active roster longer as well. I know Comics Archeology said no headcanons but I do headcanon that Vi and Ayla both have an especially good and mostly platonic relationship with Tenzil because he was nice to Vi when she was young and needed someone who actually encouraged her self-worth. I could imagine them being flirty drunks with one another occasionally but I think they'd just all genuinely be really close friends.

I really thought they were a cute couple! and both so good-natured too!




ugh agree, I had to convince myself Shady was being mentally manipulated... all the Tasmias I have ever known had strong principles, so for Shady to do that...

One thing I liked was how utterly different many of the relationships were. It was much like getting together with a dozen old friends and their spouses / partners, and thinking that some of them complement each other really well, and some of them just make no sense, but work anyway, and some are just messy drama you can't look away from.

There was something for everyone, and even if there were relationships that I felt were squiffy or questionable or 'boring,' it was no different than the real world, with all sorts of reasons two people might end up together.

The Legion couplings I care the most about are:

Pre-Crisis/Retroboot Garth and Imra
Pre-Crisis/Retroboot Ayla and Vi

Garth and Imra due to their devotion for one another to almost comical levels. These two absolutely will not allow each other to die, especially if one's trying to sacrifice themself for the other. Even before they actually became a couple, I loved Imra's willingness to sacrifice herself for the Legion even at the cost of everyone thinking she was a power-hungry bitch and yet Garth still threw himself forward and died in her place knowing what she really planned. Beyond that it was the sense of respect that grew between them and the idea of Imra being the more masculine figure while Garth is the more feminine one. In the sense Imra resumed active duty as a Legionnaire while Garth chose to support her from home by looking after their children.

I genuinely grew to hate what Geoff Johns tried to do to these two, by saying Garth was always a brash hothead and Imra "saw the best in everyone" as a way to justify Garth turning abusive while Imra just took his behavior. Even if it could be justified as them both being traumatized from being on the run and getting separated from their kids, I was glad Levitz used the shock of Titan's destruction to snap them back to their actual selves.

I know I frequently joke about Ayla and Vi as being "the original space lesbians," and I apologize for the bi erasure that comes from those jokes. I do think the two have a strong vibe akin to Sailors Uranus and Neptune from Sailor Moon, even if they've shown attraction to men. What draws me to them is the sense of awakening that developed around Ayla and Vi as their dissatisfaction with their male relationships grew alongside the development of their strength. Both women had gone through horrible ordeals and both had been failed by the men in their lives. To me, it didn't feel as lazy as "Oh, the only two queer ladies in the Legion hook up." It felt like they were drawn to one another because they were going through similar ordeals and helped each other figure out hidden details about themselves.

It's losing these relationships as two of the main reasons why I genuinely hate the current Legion so much. I wanted more of those two pairings from these specific versions of the characters. It wasn't fair that after all this time, Ayla and Vi were brought back and could finally have their romantic feelings openly acknowledged by the narrative only for them to be wiped away and replaced with... whatever the Hell is going in Bendis's Legion. I wanted to see their love continue to grow as they did in a world where it didn't have to hide behind subtext.

Well said, Sarcasm Kid!

I keep forgetting Garth and Imra are pretty unique in that sense (in comics), with Garth being the supportive spouse and Imra as the one who is naturally a core part of the team.

...and I 100% agree about Ayla and Vi as well - it just seems a really natural transition in retrospect, and their 5YL relationship was probably the strongest one of the series without seeming at all gimmicky.

Sarky touches on it specifically with Garth and Imra, but I've always been pleased and bemused sometimes by how together the Legion ladies are, and how much the writing has kind of thrown a monkey-wrench at gender and relationship tropes. Ironbutt Imra is the one who can't stay retired and keeps diving back into action. Garth has a breakdown and seems to be 'the emotional one.' Drake is 'the clingy one' and Dawny sometimes comes across as emotionally unavailable. Shady is the brash confident one, Mon is the PTSD abuse-survivor who stays one step behind and let's their spouse stand in front and serve as their emotional shield at times. Jo is a bit of a mess, and Tinya's the one who has it together. Luornu has got the tragic backstory (with the loss of her selves), and she's the grizzled veteran, while Chuck sometimes comes off as unsure of himself and in a more cliche-d relationship, she'd be the action hero with the dark past and he'd be the uncertain waif that got rescued and discovers their confidence in the second act. And Brin and Ayla, obviously, practically a hurt/comfort fic gone to a much healthier conclusion as the caregiver says, '**** it' and dumps his needy ass.

And there's more stereotypical relationships, as well. It's not all rowing against the current. It's just some fun subversion of outmoded types and (sexist) tropes.

About the only time it irks is when a story beat gets retread. In later years, Rokk seemed to be turning into Garth, the one who breaks down and can't handle the stress, while Lydda remained the cool-as-cucumbers anchor, taking on the Imra role, and I felt like I had already read this exact beat...

Another thing I couldn't stand was when Johns turned Rokk into the suffering "I have to give up love" type of character while Lydda was delegated to the thing he "could not" have. I'm always gonna remember that one panel in L3W where Rokk's talking about all he had to sacrifice to become Legion leader again, and Lydda's standing in the background looking like someone ripped out her heart. God I hate that.

...

And later, Garth & Imra tried to get them back together at a disco - ugh - but I never liked Rokk much. That scene just confirmed my bad opinion of him. The best part of that relationship was her moving on and working as an Academy instructor. At the very end of the series, Rokk's with Garth and Imra, no Lydda in sight. I hope she told him, fun dancing with you, don't call me, good night.

We all know, deep down, there are only two people who can handle Rokk Krinn in a relationship

Projectra and Karate Kid, always was my favorite Legion couple.... The princess and the warrior.
Saturn Girl and Lightining Lad , is in second place... The heart of the Legion.
Phantom Girl and Ultra Boy.... but I'm the only one who loved Spider Girl and Ultra Boy couple, too... Very intense with the sacrifice of Sussa.
Shadow Lass and Mon-El. A classic.
Supergirl and Brainiac 5. The impossible love.
Cosmic Boy and Night Girl. A very real love.
White Witch and Timber Wolf, in the final run of the original series...
Special mention to Duo Damsel and Superboy crush...and the not confirmed romance Invisible Kid & Chemical King.


In the reboot : Cosmic Boy and Kid Quantum, nice twist.

In the 3boot : Projectra and Timber Wolf, a great beautiful couple.

I liked the idea of Jo and Sussa - I don't know if I'm misremembering but I seem to recall she ended up being a bit too 'emotional girlfriend' which is ehhh....before the stupid new superhero codenames at the end of the series though, when she kept him on his toes and gave him something to do other than sit around moping about Tinya was fun.

In relationship terms it was kind of the next logical step from the role Kono filled, but they very wisely avoided a creepy vibe by letting a character other than very young Kono fill that position.

And it kind of gave her a low key redemption without any of that "the love of a man made her right" business, like you got the impression that she wasn't changing to snag Jo but more that being around good people just encouraged her to follow her better impulses. Which does kinda make you wonder what might have happened if the Legion weren't so much of the time utter assholes to rejects at the try-outs, but that's another topic altogether I guess

I fondly remember the scene where Sussa encourages Jo to go find time-lost Tinya. And someone (Ayla I think, or Vi) told her: I used to think you were selfish, but you're not.

Really upped Sussa in my eyes, and made her a niche fave.

Speaking of characters who were unfortunately paired with Earth-Man in the retroboot...

Ugh ugh ugh ugh ugh ugh ugh