History ShipSinking / MarvelUniverse

* ''Franchise/XMen'':

* Marvel has attempted to break up Franchise/SpiderMan and Mary Jane Watson many times even before they got married:
** Originally Mary Jane was introduced as a girl that Aunt May believed would be good for Peter but whom Peter refuses to even meet, as he assumes this girl couldn't be cool if old stodgy Aunt May likes her. Later issues had MJ appear as TheFaceless, but context details confirmed that she was incredibly beautiful based on the reactions of other characters. By the time Mary Jane makes her first appearance, and got a design that audiences loved at once, Lee-Romita felt they needed to go in a new direction and tried to make Gwen the LoveInterest, but audiences gravitated to Mary Jane who Peter dated for a few issues. So Stan Lee decided to have Peter call her irresponsible and so on, and then had her PutOnABus with a ridiculous hairstyle in later issues and so on. The romance of Peter and Gwen in the meantime was unpopular, and ultimately Creator/GerryConway killed off Gwen and made Peter and MJ a couple.
** Marv Wolfman got tired of the Peter/MJ romance that had been going strong for more than fifty issues at that point and saw fit to break it up. He decided to have Peter propose to her and have Mary Jane reject him, which he believed would make readers unsympathetic to her. Of course readers felt that Peter proposed in a cheap way (leaving a ring in a cracker box) in Issue #182-183, and Wolfman himself provided Mary Jane a compelling FreudianExcuse (revealing that her parents were divorced) in Issue #191-192, after which she was PutOnABus. How did that work out? Well exactly 100 issues later she said yes, and got married to him.
** Roger Stern, a writer who liked Mary Jane as a character but didn't think she and Peter were compatible, reintroduced her as a friend in Issue #242 and set up a backstory for her about a broken home and an abandoned sister which hinted at guilt and regrets, as well as family loss. After he left, his basic outline (Mary Jane had known Peter was Spider-Man, her childhood had given her baggage and that her public persona was a mask) was repurposed by Tom [=Defalco=] in Issue #258-260, and this started a new period where they became best friends and confidants, with Mary Jane now proving to be a {{Foil}} for Peter and Spider-Man in having a double life, and this ultimately made them far more compatible than they would have been without this backstory. And in less than 50 issues they got married.
** After they got married, writers came up with bizarre plans since now sinking the ship meant either divorcing them (which made Spider-Man look bad as a family friendly character and also aged him), widowing Peter (which meant making him a FailureHero on such a level that no one could buy him being a quipster or dating again after losing the love-of-his-life, and also aging him). So they tried byzantine plots like ''ComicBook/TheCloneSaga'', where Peter 'retired' as Spider-Man so that his clone Ben Reilly could take over as the main character. After Ben's death and Peter's return, they tried [[DroppedABridgeOnHim killing MJ in a plane crash]], then had her return but separate from Peter, but it didn't stick as the two patched up their relationship. Then the infamous ''ComicBook/OneMoreDay'' storyline broke them up for well over a decade, albeit the manner in which it was done immortalized the pairing since EIC Quesada admitted that he couldn't find any real in-story way to end the relationship that made sense with the characters and backstory and felt it was a corporate decision to keep Spider-Man a KidAppealCharacter.
** In the Post-OMD era, they tried to sink the ship by simply refusing to let it sail. Much time was spent keeping MJ out of the books, having both her and Peter in different relationships, neither of which were compelling or charismatic enough to replace the earlier one. Instead attempts were made to ShipTease them to bring readers in, only to BaitAndSwitch it with gimmicky storylines. [[ComicBook/TheAmazingSpiderManDanSlott Dan Slott's run]] had Peter's then girlfriend Carlie Cooper and Mary Jane in the wake of ''ComicBook/SuperiorSpiderMan'' abandon Peter agreeing that the price was too high to be in a relationship with him. Mary Jane transferred over to the ''Iron Man'' books and has only sparingly interacted with Peter since, with their relationship routinely jumping from friendly (Chip Zdarsky) to tense (Slott) DependingOnTheWriter. After Slott left, ''ComicBook/TheAmazingSpiderMan2018'' brought them back together.
** Zeb Wells decides to basically nuke the ship in his run, ''ComicBook/TheAmazingSpiderMan2022'', by starting with a TimeSkip of six months, then showing Mary Jane raising kids with new character Paul. [[spoiler:And it's eventually revealed that they're married.]]
** The major problem with sinking the ship is that Mary Jane is Peter's major love interest in most adaptations and in alternate versions such as the Newspaper Strip, the Ultimate Spider-Man titles and she is also the mother of ''ComicBook/SpiderGirl'', Marvel's longest running title for any female character. So popular are they that writer Dan Slott revived them in the alt reality family title ''ComicBook/TheAmazingSpiderManRenewYourVows'' which sold incredibly well and started a series. In other words, there are rarely any long gaps without some version of Peter and MJ either married or in a romance in some Spider-Man comic or the other.
* ''ComicBook/{{Runaways}}'':
** Every new creative team since Vaughn and Alphona's departure from the series has made sure to sink at least one ship during their run. Creator/JossWhedon sank both Nico/Victor by having Nico willingly step aside to let Victor pursue Lillie [=McGurty=], and put a good-sized hole in Nico/Karolina when Karolina tells Nico that Xavin "gives me something you can't."
** Later, Terry Moore all but obliterated Karolina/Xavin by having Xavin take Karolina's place when she was accused of war crimes.
** Kathryn Immonen apparently tried to sink Nico/Chase [[spoiler:by having Chase get hit by a car after possibly running into Gert]], but then the series was cancelled. Nico/Karolina took another broadside, after the Runaways appeared in ''ComicBook/AvengersAcademy'', [[spoiler:which led to Karolina hooking up with Julie Power.]]
* An issue of ''ComicBook/{{Hawkeye}}'' seems to do this to all three of his most prominent romantic relationships: he cheats on Jessica who breaks up with him, finally signs divorce papers for his marriage with Bobbi, and Natasha is thought of as his work wife.
* A fandom favorite in Creator/MarvelComics were between Robbie Reyes, the ComicBook/AllNewGhostRider, and Kamala Khan, the [[ComicBook/MsMarvel2014 All-New Ms. Marvel]], even though they never met. The ''ComicBook/SecretWars2015'' one-shot ''Secret Love'' finally makes this both AscendedFanon and this trope when the two team up [[spoiler:and Kamala proceeds to declare them "Crossover Besties 4 Lyfe!", much to the relief of their canon love interests.]]
* ''ComicBook/AllNewAllDifferentAvengers'':
** Despite the Ship Tease below, nothing seems to be happening between Cap and Thor. After Cap found out she is Jane Foster, she essentially told him that they won't be able to have any relationship, as she's a cancer patient. And in Cap's own comic, he starts a relationship with Misty Knight.
** In-universe, Kamala furiously attempts to torpedo a Fan Fiction featuring a love triangle involving herself, Spidey and Nova.

** ''[[ComicBook/MonetStCroix Monet]]'' & ''{{ComicBook/Sabretooth}}'' is a more subtle case. They have an overt ShipTease during ''ComicBook/UncannyXMen2016'' and ''ComicBook/WeaponX2017''. [[EveryoneCanSeeIt Numerous characters]], consisting of Psylocke, Callisto, Emplate, Deathstrike, Domino, Deadpool, and Omega Red, believing they have feelings for each other. The ship not only sinks, but is brutally shot down when Creed's [[HeelFaceBrainwashing inversion]] is [[FaceHeelTurn undone]] the final issue of Weapon X. He's now sided with the Malekith during the ComicBook/WarOfTheRealms and has plans to exact bloody revenge on the X-Men. So needless to say, anything he may or could have had with Monet is over. Sadly, Monet is in the dark on his reversion & was last seen wondering what became of him.

** In the Post-OMD era, they tried to sink the ship by simply refusing to let it sail. Much time was spent keeping MJ out of the books, having both her and Peter in different relationships, neither of which were compelling or charismatic enough to replace the earlier one. Instead attempts were made to ShipTease them to bring readers in, only to BaitAndSwitch it with gimmicky storylines. [[ComicBook/TheAmazingSpiderManDanSlott Dan Slott's run]] had Peter's then girlfriend Carlie Cooper and Mary Jane in the wake of ''ComicBook/SuperiorSpiderMan'' abandon Peter agreeing that the price was too high to be in a relationship with him. Mary Jane transferred over to the ''Iron Man'' books and has only sparingly interacted with Peter since, with their relationship routinely jumping from friendly (Chip Zdarsky) to tense (Slott) DependingOnTheWriter. After Slott left, ''ComicBook/TheAmazingSpiderManNickSpencer'' brought them back together.

** Zeb Wells decides to basically nuke the ship in his run, ComicBook/TheAmazingSpiderMan2022, by starting with a TimeSkip of six months, then showing Mary Jane raising kids with new character Paul. [[spoiler:And it's eventually revealed that they're married...]]

** ....And Zeb Wells decides to basically nuke the ship in his run, ComicBook/TheAmazingSpiderMan2022, by creating a timeskip of six months, making mary jane married to a massive random, her having kids with said guy and it's later revealec they are married.

** ....And Zeb Wells decides to basically nuke the ship in his run, ComicBook/TheAmazingSpiderManWellsAndRomitaJr, by creating a timeskip of six months, making mary jane married to a massive random, her having kids with said guy and it's later revealec they are married.

** Originally Mary Jane was introduced as a girl that Aunt May believed would be good for Peter but which Peter refused because he thought she couldn't be cool if old stodgy Aunt May knew her. Later issues had her appear as TheFaceless but context details confirmed that she was incredibly beautiful based on the reactions of other characters. By the time she made her first appearance, and got a design that audiences loved at once, Lee-Romita felt they needed to go in a new direction and tried to make Gwen the LoveInterest but audiences gravitated to Mary Jane who Peter dated for a few issues. So Stan Lee decided to have Peter call her irresponsible and so on, and then had her PutOnABus with a ridiculous hairstyle in later issues and so on. The romance of Peter and Gwen in the meantime was unpopular, and ultimately Creator/GerryConway killed off Gwen and made Peter and MJ a couple.

** In the mainline ''Franchise/MarvelUniverse'', Creator/JimShooter wrote a romantic sublot for Colossus in the middle of ''ComicBook/SecretWars1984'' for the express purpose of finally putting an end to the Kitty/Colossus relationship, a longstanding point of complaint by Shooter (for good reason -- his concern was not with the relationship itself, but with the fact that Kitty was at the time 14 and Colossus was 19, and so was concerned with reasonable worries about how the relationship would be perceived by the readers.) The followup issue of ''Uncanny X-Men'' was Claremont taking the plotline and running with it. Despite this, Joss Whedon tried to bring the relationship back during his Astonishing X-Men run. At that point, Kitty was an adult so the age wasn't a problem anymore.
** In ''ComicBook/XMenForever'', Kitty starts to have romantic feelings for Gambit. Gambit turns her down, pointing out that at the time this is going on, she is going through a massive amount of mental and physical trauma concerning her assimilation of Wolverine's claw and powers, and that she is not thinking straight.
** In ''ComicBook/XMenGold'' #29 and #30, it's seem like Colossus and Kitty are finally, finally getting hitched but when Colossus tries [[https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yWBkXW2GiR0/WypWI67c18I/AAAAAAAABeg/UQUekfgBjYomSOcYQYfYHFpbT8ichoX5wCHMYCw/s1600/RCO021.jpg to put the ring on her]]... it [[{{Intangibility}} doesn't]] [[RunawayBride work out]]. Despite genuinely loving Colossus, Kitty can't form a commitment after such a turbulent history, thus making any reunion unlikely any time soon.. [[spoiler: But for Gambit and Rogue, on the other hand, uncertainty and turmoil ironically is the basis for their relationship in the first place, so they decide not let the reception go to waste and get married with Kitty and Colossus' blessing]].

** Wolverine/Mariko Yashida's relationship ended tragically not only does Mastermind throw the spanner on the works by using his powers to make Mariko call off the wedding, then Mariko was poisoned by Tsurayaba and to avoid a painful death she asked Wolverine to [[MercyKill end her suffering]] which he did. There were many ManlyTears.

** In the Post-OMD era, they tried to sink the ship by simply refusing to let it sail. Much time was spent keeping MJ out of the books, having both her and Peter in different relationships, neither of which were compelling or charismatic enough to replace the earlier one. Instead attempts were made to ShipTease them to bring readers in, only to BaitAndSwitch it with gimmicky storylines. [[ComicBook/DanSlottSpiderMan Dan Slott's run]] had Peter's then girlfriend Carlie Cooper and Mary Jane in the wake of ''ComicBook/SuperiorSpiderMan'' abandon Peter agreeing that the price was too high to be in a relationship with him. Mary Jane transferred over to the ''Iron Man'' books and has only sparingly interacted with Peter since, with their relationship routinely jumping from friendly (Chip Zdarsky) to tense (Slott) DependingOnTheWriter. After Slott left ''ComicBook/NickSpencersSpiderMan'' brought them back together.

** The major problem with sinking the ship is that Mary Jane is Peter's major love interest in most adaptations and in alternate versions such as the Newspaper Strip, the Ultimate Spider-Man titles and she is also the mother of ''ComicBook/SpiderGirl'', Marvel's longest running title for any female character. So popular are they that writer Dan Slott revived them in the alt reality family title ''ComicBook/RenewYourVows'' which sold incredibly well and started a series. In other words, there are rarely any long gaps without some version of Peter and MJ either married or in a romance in some Spider-Man comic or the other.

** ''[[ComicBook/MonetStCroix Monet]]'' & ''{{ComicBook/Sabretooth}}'' is a more subtle case. They have an overt ShipTease during ''ComicBook/UncannyXMen2015'' and ''ComicBook/WeaponX2017''. [[EveryoneCanSeeIt Numerous characters]], consisting of Psylocke, Callisto, Emplate, Deathstrike, Domino, Deadpool, and Omega Red, believing they have feelings for each other. The ship not only sinks, but is brutally shot down when Creed's [[HeelFaceBrainwashing inversion]] is [[FaceHeelTurn undone]] the final issue of Weapon X. He's now sided with the Malekith during the ComicBook/WarOfTheRealms and has plans to exact bloody revenge on the X-Men. So needless to say, anything he may or could have had with Monet is over. Sadly, Monet is in the dark on his reversion & was last seen wondering what became of him.