Top 10 Seriously Messed Up Superhero Romances

The relationship between Cyclops and Jean Grey is among the most well known among "X-Men" readers, but that doesn't mean that it hasn't seen its fair share of drama. Case in point? The "psychic affair" Scott Summers and sometimes hero/sometimes villain Emma Frost shared while the former was still with Grey. The pair becomes a physical item after Jean's death (one of them, anyway), and even co-run Xavier's school after The Professor resigns. This...doesn't go well, ending up as disastrously messy as their initial hook-up years before. Some people just aren't good for each other, ya know?

Kurt Wagner's early life certainly wasn't easy. The future Nightcrawler would be placed into foster care as a baby and experienced his early education as part of a traveling circus. One of his foster siblings, Jimaine Szardos, had secretly been dating her adoptive-brother for an extended period of time. She did this in disguise, under the identity of a woman named Amanda Sefton, and revealed this to Kurt while the X-Man is on trial in Hell (naturally), for the murder of his other foster sibling Stefan. The weirdest part: they stayed together even after this revelation! This one just kind of gives us the creeps.

The convoluted world of comics is known for its alternate realities, separate timelines and "what if? scenarios. That said, the "Batman Beyond: 2.0" series presents a future where Batgirl cheats on Nightwing, former Robin Dick Grayson, with Batman, and becomes pregnant. The Caped Crusader and his former protégé come to blows over the whole scenario, while Barbara Gordon suffers a miscarriage while out fighting crime as Batgirl. Ignoring for a moment that Batman and Gordon go behind Dick's back with the whole affair, the fact that Bruce Wayne would hook up with Commissioner Gordon's daughter on the DL just isn't cool, man. NOT cool.

This one's a doozy, so strap in, folks. Basically, Ms. Marvel, a.k.a. Carol Danvers, was seduced via mind-control, raped and impregnated by Marcus in a timeless reality known as Limbo. When Danvers returned, she had no memory of how she became pregnant, eventually giving birth to a child who rapidly ages into Marcus. Danvers was then portrayed to have somehow enjoyed the experience, and she returns to Limbo with Marcus while her fellow Avengers kind of just let her go. She would return a few issues later resentful of her teammates who should have known better than to let her go with a man who already admitted to kidnapping and manipulating her.

Hey, they say even a broken clock is right twice a day, so why can't we have a moment of reprieve for the otherwise merciless killer known as M.O.D.O.K.? The supervillain acronym for "Mental Mobile Organism Designed Only For Killing" ends up with one serious crush on Thor's lost sister Angela...although it's not exactly sure how she feels about the whole thing. The pair does some adventuring together, lending M.O.D.O.K. some levity which really does the character good, although this is basically the definition of an "unlikely duo." Angela, for her part, acknowledges M.O.D.O.K.'s existence, but this romance angle is definitely one-sided.

Hey, whaddya know? It's Cyclops again! Our romantically challenged X-Man returns for another spot on our list, this time with a Jean Grey clone by the name of Madelyne Pryor. Ok, to be fair, Ms. Pryor actually wasn't always a clone of the former Marvel Girl, but it was always weird that Scott dated and later married a woman that looked exactly like his dead ex-girlfriend. It wasn't until Marvel decided to resurrect Jean that Pryor was revealed to be a clone, oh, and an evil Goblin Queen. Maybe Cyclops should try keeping it in his spandex pants.

The next relationship on our list may have been ret-conned recently, but that doesn't change its legendary infamy amongst readers of DC's "Teen Titans." "The Judas Contract" was a popular, but controversial story arc where one of the Titans, Terra, betrays the group and is revealed to have been a spy working for their greatest enemy, Slade Wilson AKA Deathstroke. Terra was also written into a romantic relationship with the assassin, which normally wouldn't be a problem until one takes into account that Deathstroke is a grown man and Terra is just a teenager. "The Judas Contract" may be a classic, but we're glad this creepy aspect of it has been given the creative boot.

The Death of Gwen Stacy is one of the most talked-about Spider-Man storylines of all time, second perhaps only to his origin story. Imagine, then, how fans felt when the "Sins Past" arc in 2004 changed all that, in favor of secret twins, fathered by the Green Goblin with Stacy prior to her death. Adding more fuel to the fire was the revelation that Mary Jane was actually aware of the whole thing, and kept Stacy's secret for years after her death. It's just a whole lot of ret-conning which didn't need to happen, proving once again that some things are called "classic" for a reason.

The Maximoff siblings have always been a tightly-knit pair, but it wasn't until Marvel's "Ultimates" series that anyone knew exactly how close they could become. That's because this series pushed the affection between Quicksilver and The Scarlet Witch further than just sibling protectiveness, diving headlong into incest territory. Yup, The Maximoffs are presented a full-blown item in this series, putting to bed any of the hints or insinuations which had dogged the pair in the past. The backstory has since been changed by Marvel, but this storyline is something we just can't un-see.

Oh, c'mon, who else could it be? The Joker and Harley Quinn take our top spot for a number of reasons, not the least of which due to their relationship proving to be so popular amongst fans. No matter which side of the argument you take, there's no denying that the psychotic Clown Prince of Crime has been verbally, physically and emotionally abusive to the former Dr. Harleen Quinzell over the years. Meanwhile, Harley Quinn's dependence on Mr. J offers further, depressing evidence that the Joker just sees her a means to an end; a plaything that he can string along until she's no longer needed. The most messed up part? People actually see their relationship as romantic.