The “on-off” relationships are terrible for the characters and the readers
Fictional toxic relationship is fine if it was handled properly for dramas or character developments, but… the “on-off” situation was overused for some couples and I couldn’t care anymore.(same for Polaris and Havok, and I really wish Marvel don’t whip Wolverine/Jean
dead horse)
The saddest part about toxic relationships at Marvel is kinda twofold.
- Entirely brand new fans aren’t aware of how toxic those relationships are or why, so they might support the relationships in spite of their toxicity
- Long-time fanboys have tons of nostalgia for not only the toxic relationships, but their toxicity itself, and a lot of those fanboys work at Marvel today
That’s why with Polaris, I’m so insistent about keeping Lorna and Havok apart for a long time. When they broke up, I set an informal clock of 10 years apart before trying to bring them back together. In theory, 10 years apart would have (note past tense) allowed Lorna to pursue romances that aren’t Havok for the first time in her entire 50 years of existence, establish relationships outside Havok, and pursue a wide range of things that she had been kept from her for so long (e.g. her origin story).
Instead, we have Marvel sabotaging her. They’ve undermined her developments (e.g. not promoting X-Factor #243). They keep finding a way to shoehorn Havok into all her big moments, sometimes letting him steal her spotlight or making her moments into mere subplots of big stories for Havok. They’ve written her dynamics with Gambit and Magneto in the same ways they write her treatment around Havok. And lastly, if they aren’t doing one of those things, they have her tossed in limbo for 2 years straight where nothing can change or improve for her.
With all of Marvel’s shenanigans in this respect since 2012 (when they broke up), I think the clock needs to be reset to 10 years again starting now.
I’m also thinking the original 10 years out from 2012 was too generous and ambitious of a goal in the first place. It assumed Marvel would care enough to put some real effort into doing right by Polaris. I hadn’t considered that it might take 10 years just for Marvel to get off its obsession with forcing Havok on Lorna and tearing her down with or without him. Which is the most important prerequisite to any possible relationship between the characters not sucking.
salarta 