Drama. It’s the thing behind all superhero stories. The action was awesome in Infinity War, but let’s face it, everyone’s talking about that ending. One of the reasons people praise the Nolan Batman movies to no end is because the character relationships are very compelling. People come for the crazy costumes and over-the-top action, but whether they stay or not depends on how the drama unfolds. And what better source of drama is there than family?
Family drama can be some of the most surprising and tragic drama out there. Parents abandon kids, kids try to become better than their parents, and siblings fight the whole time. It all makes for great stories. Comic book writers have known this for decades, and so have woven family drama into pretty much every famous superhero comic to ever exist. Sometimes it’s easy. A lot of heroes already have loved ones that could turn on them or be lost at any moment. But then comes a character like Batman who has already lost his family.
25 Spider-Man’s Uncle Was Actually In Homecoming
…Sort of. It’s a bit of an easter egg, but when Peter tries to stop the Vulture’s goons from selling weapons to Donald Glover’s character, he scans them and reveals his name to be Aaron Davis. Later on, Davis mentions that he has a nephew “in the neighborhood.”
Observant Spidey fans picked up on this as a reference to Miles Morales, the Ultimate Spider-Man.
Miles didn’t have an uncle that was good influence like Peter Parker did. Instead, he had his Uncle Aaron, a high-tech thief known as the Prowler. Prowler learned Miles’ secret and tried to rear him as a henchmen, using his powers to intimidate the competition and calling it justice to fool Miles. When that ultimately failed, he beat Miles and ended up being destroyed by his own weapon backfiring. His death served as a lesson for Miles in his future hero life as a different spin on the tragic Spider-Man uncle. Of course, Donald Glover might just be playing a character that’s a neat reference. If Miles does exist in the MCU, he’s still far too young to be Spider-Man. He’s even younger than Pete. Then again, when Marvel Studios gets to phase ten, enough time might just pass for Miles to take the reins.
24 Wonder Woman And Ares
In the movies, Wonder Woman is a daughter of Zeus. As such, she is a half-brother to Ares and they are both Olympians in a sense. This is also true in certain comics. Things get a little weird with DC rebooting everything with Flashpoint and the New 52. In some comics, Ares is her grandfather. In others, he is her half-brother just like in the movies. Either way, Ares tends to be an antagonistic presence in her life. After all, how can she bring peace to mankind if the God Of War is always trying to start something? Fun fact, though, Wonder Woman actually became the God Of War for a spell. Although that may have been part of some false memories implanted within her to trick her into not going to a certain island. Like I said, DC comics can get complicated. At least Wonder Woman’s movies keep things simple. Let’s just hope they stay that way. Or even…keep going in general. There’s definitely a lot of hype for them, even if there is none for the rest of the Justice League. It would be a shame if the inevitable reboot of DC’s movie universe ruins the good thing they have going with Gal Gadot.
23 Scarlet Witch And Magneto
This is an interesting one because Scarlet Witch exists in two movie universes and the comics. In the Fox X-Men movies, Wanda was seen very briefly as a toddler being held by the ’70s rocker version of Quicksilver everyone loves. There it’s made a pretty obvious plot point that Quicksilver is Magneto’s son. But that Wanda isn’t even Scarlet Witch yet. She’s definitely more known for her appearance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In that world, Magneto doesn’t even exist due to rights issues. And that’s too bad, because I’m sure he’d have something to say about Thanos wrecking everything. But he’s not there, so the fact that Scarlet Witch is Magneto’s daughter is probably unknown to the many people that cried over her final fate in Infinity War. There’s always the possibility that this can be retconned now that Disney is in the process of buying Fox. But since fans seem pretty happy with this version of Wanda and her story, movie Magneto probably isn’t going to be reuniting with his daughter anytime soon. If you want to see the fascinating and often messed-up relationship between Magneto and his children, you’ll have to pick up the comics. House Of M is a particularly great storyline starring the Magneto family.
22 Cable And Cyclops
With the Deadpool 2 marketing machine going into full steam, Cable’s role as a time-traveling assassin and antagonistic relationship with Deadpool seem to be taking the spotlight. And while it is true that Cable and Deadpool have had an entertaining comics run together, Cable’s story goes far beyond that. In fact, he was introduced as part of the X-Men story proper.
Moviegoers might not know that Cable is actually the son of X-Man Cyclops.
Obviously, there’s a bit of a hiccup with their ages, which can be explained by the whole time travel thing. Cable is Cyclop’s son from a ruined future, one where he had to become a gritty cyber soldier to survive. He meets the current-day version of his father when he travels back in time to stop his future from coming to pass. It seems like movie Cable will be doing something similar to this when he butts heads with Deadpool. As for what kind of future Cable hails from or why it’s Deadpool’s job to stop him, those things are still a secret. For that matter, we don’t even know if Cyclops will be referenced in Deadpool 2. With Disney in the process of buying Fox, the future of the X-Men movies is in question. For now, at least, all we can do is enjoy the ride.
21 Gamora, Thanos, And The Black Order
This one was made pretty obvious in the movie, but it probably took some people in the theater by surprise. We knew that Gamora was called the daughter of Thanos. We also knew that she had a sister, Nebula, and that Thanos made the two fight to turn them into perfect little soldiers. What we did not know was that Thanos actually had quite a few “children” at his command. For his assault on Earth to gather the Infinity Stones, Thanos sent the Black Order, a set of generals that are his adopted children. It’s never said where the Black Order originates from. It’s likely that they are also the remnants of races that Thanos “saved.” However, unlike Gamora and Nebula, they are completely loyal to Thanos and never consider the danger of him getting all the stones. It’s too bad we never got to see Gamora meet any of the Black Order. It might have made for some cool fight scenes and fascinating drama. But alas, Infinity War was already full enough without adding more personal battles into the mix. And with the Black Order handily defeated, we won’t be seeing them fight anyone anytime soon.
20 Black Panther And Jakarra
Since his movie franchise has just barely started, there’s a lot about T’Challa, the Black Panther, that fans don’t know. One mind-blowing fact is that T’Challa has a brother in the comics. His name is Jakarra, and he’s a general of Wakanda. As you can tell from the art, he hails from a rather old Marvel comics story. He plays the villain, hence the weird purple skin and his vague wrestling with Black Panther. Jakarra is jealous of T’Challa for taking the Wakandan throne and plans a coup to take it back. He gathers some followers that are loyal to him to stage a military takeover. He even experiments with science to turn himself into a supervillain. Does all of this sound familiar?
That’s because it’s basically the plot of the movie.
A hidden relative rises to take control of Wakanda through a combination of military revolution and becoming superpowered. Killmonger basically takes Jakarra’s story. But that’s probably for the best, as the writers of the movie used it to tell a very relevant and effective story. Perhaps Jakarra will get his day in some other way. Of course, the first thing that has to happen is having Thanos’ work undone so that T’Challa can even have more stories.
19 Ant-Man And Ultron
It’s funny how much we forget about Ultron. Despite the fact that the destruction of Sokovia launched the entire plot of Civil War and caused ripples that affected most of phase 2 and phase 3’s movies, Ultron is dismissed by fans because his movie is uneven at best. For a quick reminder, in the movies, Ultron is the creation of Tony Stark with some help from Bruce Banner. That’s part of why Utron has a big ego and is obsessed with constantly upgrading his robot body. He’s got his arrogance from his dad. But in the comics, it’s actually Hank Pym that creates Ultron. That’s right, the original Ant-Man accidentally releases a psychotic A.I. on the world. It’s something that Pym struggles with, as he already often feels like a terrible hero when compared to the likes of Captain America and Thor. It led to him creating a team called Avengers A.I. that specifically dealt with tech-based threats. As for Ultron, he is also very different in the comics. Where the movie version has a personality and a penchant for monologues, the comics version is much more of a stoic robot. Comics Ultron is cold and logical, only wanting to destroy all humans and make room for his PC master race.
18 Hulk And Red Hulk
Red Hulk is a bit of a veteran character in the comics, but when he was first introduced it was made into a big event. A red version of the scary giant that seemed even more powerful and smarter than the green one. There was a huge mystery about his true identity. Eventually, the reader learns that Red Hulk is none other than General Thaddeus Ross. That’s right, the father of Bruce Banner’s wife and longtime Hulk hater turned himself into the very thing he hated. He even got radiation from the green Hulk put into him in order to obtain this power. For a while, Ross was unstoppable as Red Hulk. He even defeated Thor and Hulk. But then Bruce learned that Red Hulk had a weakness. The angrier he gets, the more his body heats up. Hulk was able to use this to his advantage to make Red Hulk overheat and tire out. From then on, Red Hulk became a major player in the Marvel universe. He was put into various video games and even became a major player in the cartoon Hulk and the Agents Of S.M.A.S.H. However, in other media, his identity as Ross isn’t really addressed. He’s just a red version of Hulk. Sometimes he even uses guns…
17 Professor X And The Juggernaut
Again, in the comics, the fact that Juggernaut and Xavier are stepbrothers. is a very well-known fact. There’s a reason Juggernaut wears the helmet. It stops Xavier from getting into his head and putting a stop to his rampages. Magneto does the same thing. And you’d better believe they know Charles well if they’re tailoring their clothing to stop his powers. The classic X-Men cartoon delves into Juggernaut a bit and explains the history between them. But the movies don’t put too much emphasis on the Juggernaut. He did make an appearance in the old series, which is still technically in continuity. But the First Class, James McAvoy version of Prof. X doesn’t mention his stepbrother. In fact, he seems a lot closer to Magneto than he does anyone else. Mystique plays that “like a sister” role to Charles, but that is an entirely different conflict and relationship. Perhaps the upcoming Phoenix-themed movie or New Mutants will address Juggernaut. Although after the disappointment that was Apocalypse, maybe it’s better they don’t. Maybe Marvel can do him justice once Disney gets the rights.
16 Batgirl And Cluemaster
First things first: let’s establish which Batgirl we’re talking about here. Pictured is third Batgirl and fourth Robin Stephanie Brown. It turns out she’s also the daughter of obscure bat-villain Cluemaster. Cluemaster’s real name is Arthur Brown, and he acts like a Riddler-lite who leaves puzzles and clues behind when he commits crimes. Except because he was a failed TV game show host, he has that angle to him. Cluemaster, who has been a frequent Batman foe and Suicide Squad member, spent most of Stephanie’s childhood in prison and as a result, doesn’t have the best relationship with his daughter. When he is finally released from prison, he immediately goes back to his old ways, disappointing his daughter.
She then takes it upon herself to “spoil” his plots.
This leads her to take up the mantle of Spoiler (whoever thought someone who spoils things would be a hero?) and fight him. She brings out this identity specifically and only whenever Cluemaster turns up. Eventually, Batman just makes her a Batgirl, and then Robin, because nobody likes a Spoiler. While the Cluemaster is certainly a villain, he’s also one of the few who shows love for his hero child. He even went sort of legit and joined the Suicide Squad. But he always comes back to crime in the end.
15 Spidey’s Brothers
One of Spider-Man’s defining traits is that he’s an only child. After all, he needs to be alone in the world except for Aunt May otherwise his whole “nerdy outcast” appeal kind of fades. Well, it turns out he actually has two brothers of sorts. Two very, very similar brothers. They could even be triplets. That’s because Peter Parker has clones. One is Ben Reilly, better known as the Scarlet Spider.
Scarlet Spider is the one wearing that blue hoodie costume because he is one of the most ’90s comic book characters ever created.
Cloned by a supervillain, Ben ultimately decided to take a hero’s path. He even filled in as Spider-Man while Pete was dealing with some personal stuff. Then there’s Kaine. Again, in true ’90s fashion, Kaine is both his supervillain name and his actual name. In case the overt Bible symbolism in the name isn’t enough, Kaine even has a cruel special attack called the Mark Of Kaine. He uses the sticky hands that Peter normally uses to climb walls to stick to a person’s face, ripping off their skin. Kaine also eventually turns good, actually taking on the Scarlet Spider mantle (complete with a much more sensible costume).
14 Flash And Cobalt Blue
Spider-Man isn’t the only one with a secret sibling. Barry Allen, the Flash, also has a brother that he never knew about until he became a superhero. On in Barry’s case, his twin is actually a twin. Malcolm is his name, and Barry grew up believing his twin perished as an infant. But the reunion is anything but a happy one. Malcolm ended up being raised by a family of con artists that abused him and even gave him a superpower, a blue flame that can cover his body and create flaming objects like the sword he’s holding in the picture. When Malcolm discovers Barry, he becomes instantly jealous of Barry’s happy and fulfilling life. This makes him go from a con artist to a full-blown supervillain named Cobalt Blue. As Cobalt Blue, he aims to destroy Barry and everything he holds dear. He doesn’t just stop there either. When Barry dies during the Crisis On Infinite Earths storyline Malcolm’s only reaction is that he lost his chance at vengeance. As a consolation prize, he targets the rest of the Flash family. What a reasonable guy.
13 Captain America And…Captain America?
Okay, so this one technically isn’t a supervillain. But it’s so mind-boggling that I just had to include it. Steve Rogers is actually not the first Captain America, nor was he even the first Steve Rogers. It turns out that he has an ancestor from the American Revolutionary War that also dressed in a costume and used a shield. His name was also Steven Rogers. He was a soldier in Revolutionary Army that for some reason decided to dress up and go on adventures even though superheroes weren’t a thing at the time.
An odd little fact about Revolution-era Captain America is that he didn’t own slaves.
The writer of the comic makes it a point to say this by having Falcon question modern Cap’s praise of Revolution Cap, reminding him that even George Washington had slaves. Cap then goes on to state that historical records show Revolution Cap didn’t have slaves, therefore, he didn’t. Again, how convenient. Finally, there’s an amusing tidbit on Revolution Cap’s abilities on the Marvel Wiki. Since he didn’t have the Super Soldier Serum in him, Revolution Cap “had all the weaknesses of an unenhanced human male (will fail upon lack of air, food, temperature, and sleep).” In case you forgot what humans are weak to.
12 Spider-Man Also Has A Sister
Spider-Man has two “brothers” in the form of clones. This is fairly well-known, because the Clone Saga is an infamously bad slice of Marvel history. But did you know Peter Parker also has a sister? It’s true. Years ago, Peter learned that his parents were S.H.I.E.L.D. agents who lost their lives in the line of duty. That shattered his world and let him onto a trail of secrets. It was sort of similar to the whole mystery that drove Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man in his movies. Only instead of more mysteries pushed off to sequels that never happened, Marvel simply delivered answers. However, it wasn’t until quite recently that Peter learned his parents covertly had another child. Teresa Parker, Peter’s sister, was a secret agent like her parents. She worked on various cases for years before meeting her brother and learning that he was Spider-Man. She has no powers, obviously, but she does have smarts and training. Also apparently Falcon’s wings and two guns that look like the light guns from the NES for some reason. Like seriously. Was the artist digging out his classic game systems before he drew this? Is she going to shoot some ducks with those things? This is actually really distracting me from finishing this article.
11 Robin And Ra’s Al Ghul
Ra’s al Ghul is known to many as that time Liam Neeson played a Batman villain. There’s also his daughter Talia who Bruce Wayne has some…relations with. Well, it turns out that Bruce wasn’t careful enough and actually made a son with Talia. Damien Wayne became the fifth Robin, but he is at heart the grandson of one of Batman’s most dangerous enemies. When Bruce first meets Damien, he finds his son is very violent and even cruel at times. He actually tries to off his then-rival for the Robin name, Tim Drake.
I’ll confess, I actually really like Damien as Robin.
He’s just a little butthead. Not outright good like Dick Grayson or even tragic like Jason Todd. Just mean. But he’s a darn good fighter for being so young. Bruce eventually gets Damien to chill and even become somewhat of a good guy. A true member of the Bat Family and nothing like his mother and grandfather. Not that Damien ever had the greatest relationship with his grandfather. Ra’s al Ghul is a crazy terrorist who even tried to take over Damien’s body to resurrect himself. Not exactly the kind of granddaddy you invite over for Christmas.
10 Wolverine And Mystique’s Son
Alternate futures are some crazy stuff. Particularly when you talk about X-Men. In one alternate future, Wolverine and Mystique have a son named Raze. This son works with Charles Xavier II to go back in time and destroy the X-Men. Why would the sons of two great X-Men want to do that? Well, Xavier II believes that the current path the X-Men are on, led by Kitty Pryde and Wolverine, spits on all that the original Xavier worked for. Because of this, Xavier mind-controls a group of future mutants to be his Brotherhood and takes them into the past to fight the old X-men. For his part, Raze just wants to hurt his dad. Raze is rather cruel, and has the powers to back it up. He actually offed his own mother and used his shape-shifting powers to take her place. Oh yeah, Raze has the powers of both of his parents. Imagine Wolverine’s claws and Mystique’s disguise abilities in one person. Raze was basically born to be an assassin. And assassinating Wolverine is exactly what he tries to do. Fun little tidbit: Raze’s shape-shifting is said to be stronger than Mystique’s. I don’t know exactly how you transform better than someone who can completely become another person, but that’s neat I guess.
9 Vision’s Brother
The Ultron family has a weird history. Ant-Man created Ultron, Ultron created Vision, and Vision married Scarlet Witch. There’s a lot of human/robot mixing going on in this family tree. We know that Ultron created Vision as the perfect mix of machine and organic material in the movies, but in the comics, Ultron created another hybrid son. After suffering a defeat at the hands of the West Coast Avengers, Ultron’s broken robotic form was dumped in a landfill. There it was discovered by Marianella Mancha, a former criminal who believed Ultron to be some sort of messenger from heaven. In reality, it was just the A.I. speaking through the busted body. Ultron convinced Marianella to bring him materials to make a new body in exchange for the son she could never have. That was the birth of Victor Mancha. Victor seemed like a normal human teenager, but was secretly programmed by Ultron to have electromagnetic abilities and a love of superheroes. His love of heroes was meant to drive him to visit New York City, where he would become an Avenger and then activate his secret protocol, destroying the Avengers in Ultron’s name. The Runaways found Victor first and seemingly put a stop to this plan, but the future is always an unknown…
8 Batman’s Brother?
This is one of those weird examples where alternate universes sort of make characters related. In the DC comics, there’s an Antimatter Earth. There, Bruce Wayne’s life turned out quite differently. Thomas Wayne actually had two sons, Bruce and Thomas Wayne Jr. Also different in this world Thomas and Martha don’t get shot by a criminal. Instead, Bruce and Martha are taken out by a crooked cop. This means that Batman is never born. Instead, Thomas Wayne Jr becomes Owlman, who apart from being themed after a bird also differs from his brother by not being a great detective. He relies on a drug to enhance his intelligence and uses suits and gadgets to become a criminal. Or that’s one version anyway.
Owlman’s origins have changed before and we’ve seen different versions crop up over the years.
In the man universe, a man calling himself Thomas Wayne Jr lead the Court Of Owls, a secret society that infested Gotham for years. These secret rulers of Gotham kidnap Bruce, bringing him face-to-face with the man who claimed to be his brother. This version of Thomas Wayne Jr was a trained assassin. At the end of his battle with Batman, Bruce finds himself doubting that the man really was his long-lost brother. But the possibility is always there…
7 Mr. Fantastic And Kang the Conquerer
With the Marvel and Fox deal going on, it might not be long before we see the Fantastic Four in the Marvel movies. But like, actually good. So we might as well start thinking of some possible Fantastic Four villains to grace the silver screen. Doctor Doom is an obvious choice, but there’s another who could really provide a threat to not only the FF but also the Avengers. Someone that seems logical after Thanos. After all, when one villain decimates all of space, there’s only one other plane to ravage: time. And it just so happens that Marvel has a villain that specializes in time: Kang the Conquerer. Kang is a genius with crazy future tech that travels the time stream establishing empires in different points in history and taking powerful people to serve him. He also has a rather personal connection to one of the FF. The leader of the Fantastic Four, Reed Richards, is an ancestor of Kang’s. Kang’s actual name is Nathaniel Richards, and he’s thought to be a descendant of both Reed and Doctor Doom. That’s quite a pedigree. Just enough smarts and evil to really pose a threat to the combined forces of all the Marvel heroes.
6 Superboy And Lex Luthor
Superboy is probably a shipper’s dream. He is basically Superman and Lex Luthor’s son, the combination of their DNA. Of course, he doesn’t know this at first. It’s only during his time with the Teen Titans that he happens upon the truth of his origin. After having his mind blown by that revelation, Superboy ends up studying Luthor to understand the man who created him. He even goes to Luthor’s childhood home and makes a list of their similarities. For his part, Luthor has actually been shown to think of Superboy as his son. He’s even called him that on several occasions. Unfortunately, it didn’t last long. Superboy is too noble to be associated with a villain like Luthor, and Lex ends up looking at his son as a failed experiment because he’s too much like his other dad.
Fortunately for Superboy, dad #2 is someone he can count on.
Although I do wonder how Lex and Supes have reacted to this weird connection between them. Was there a custody battle? Is there an awkward conversation about who gets him on what weekend? What about Lois? Is she like the awkward step-parent who tries to connect with Superboy in weird ways? Is it possible I’m projecting here?
