Heterosexual Life Partners / The DCU

The DCU

• Batman:
  • Batman and Robin, despite the Memetic Mutation status of the idea that they◊ were◊ rather more◊. Considering the number of Robins Bruce has gone through, and the fact Batman is a Parental Substitute to most, the "life partner" part doesn't apply. A more straight example would be Batman and James Gordon, going as far back as Gordon being the first one to console Bruce after his parents' death, and Year One where they were the first true ally they had in their struggle to clean up Gotham. Gordon is one of very few people outside the Bat Family or the Justice League that Batman will trust with his life.
  • Cassandra Cain and Stephanie Brown when Cass was Batgirl. Stephanie was impressed by Cassandra's skills, and asked Cass to teach her to fight. The two became extremely close friends afterwards. Likewise, Stephanie was extremely close to Kara Zor-El alias Supergirl in the pre-Flashpoint universe.
• Dick Grayson (Robin I/Nightwing/Batman III) has a very close friendship with Wally West (Kid Comic Book/The Flash III) ever since they were kids. Pre-Flashpoint, he was often portrayed in a close relationship with Roy Harper (Speedy/Red Arrow/Arsenal) as well (post-Flashpoint Harper's been claimed by Dick's brother Jason).
• Barbara Gordon alias Oracle and Dinah Lance alias Black Canary. In the pre-Crisis universe, Supergirl was Barbara's best friend. Although the two didn't actually spend much time on panel, with Supergirl in particular appearing far more often with the much older Diana of Paradise Island. In DC Rebirth they become friends again, and it actually is shown a little more.
• Robin/Red Robin (Tim Drake) and Superboy (Conner Kent) and Impulse/Kid Flash II/Flash IV (Bart Allen).
  Conner: As far as I'm concerned, you're my Robin. Always will be.
  Tim: And you'll always be my clone boy.
  • After Conner's death, Tim changes his Robin costume from the traditional red and green to the more somber red and black, explicitly in honor of Conner's colors.
  • Tim spends a great deal of time trying to clone or otherwise revive Conner, Bart, Stephanie and his father after their deaths. He almost allies himself with Ra's al Ghul at one point in order to perfect his cloning technique.
  • The last thing Tim thinks of when he almost dies after being attacked by the Council of Spiders is how he'll get to see Conner again ( at this point Stephanie had already returned to the mortal coil).
  • This friendship is back as of DC Rebirth, where Tim stops Bart when Bart says Young Justice is back and Tim says "Not without Conn[er]"
• Their successors Damian Wayne and Jonathan Kent have also grown into this trope by the end of Super Sons.
• Justice League International
  • Booster Gold and the Blue Beetle (hereafter "Boostle") of JLI fame are probably the most prominent Heterosexual Life-Partners in The DCU. One storyline in Booster's comic involves Booster time-travelling to keep Beetle from being killed; when he is told this has the potential to destabilize the multiverse, he decides Beetle is worth the risk.
  • When encountering former (dead) Flash Barry Allen while cruising through the time stream, this exchange occurs:
    Beetle: You 'rear-ended' Barry Allen?
    Booster: Oh, grow up!
  • There's also the scene where, after one of their "break-ups", Booster trails Ted in a public place and begs Ted to take him back.
    Beetle: Get a grip, Booster. You're acting like some jilted lover.
    Booster: Well, that's what it FEELS like!
  • Beatriz "Fire" DaCosta and Tora "Ice" Olafsdotter. It was even in-canon -mistaken- for gay when Tora was temporarily dead and her replacement, who (for some reason) looked a lot like her, misunderstand Bea's mourning. Admittedly, Bea was really off the deep end but still. The way it was written it did seem to indicate that Bea's close friendship towards Tora had sapphic undertones and that the resultant subconscious sexual jealousy was a big reason for Bea's sometimes extreme antipathy towards Tora's boyfriend, Guy Gardner. Once Icemaiden made her face up to that, Bea could learn to appreciate Guy's good qualities, and for a time the two found solace in each other's arms.
• Barry Allen and Hal Jordan - there’s a whole miniseries dedicated to their friendship, called ‘’Flash and Green Lantern: The Brave and The Bold’’.
  • And Oliver Queen and Hal Jordan - Issue #4 of the aforementioned miniseries had Barry ‘’jealous’’ of the time Hal was spending with Oliver.
  • Hard Traveling Heroes was full of this. And it was lampshaded by Kevin Smith in his early run by Roy Harper (Red Arrow/Arsenal), saying that it was "typical Ollie, get a kid ward, train them, get close to Dinah then leave them both to go hang out with Hal". This is AFTER Queen had come back from the dead, and was brought to the afterlife to talk with Hal Jordan/Spectre to see what was up.
• Jay Garrick and Alan Scott, as well as their successors, Barry Allen and Hal Jordan and (to a lesser extent) Wally West and Kyle Rayner. Maybe it's just a The Flash and Green Lantern thing.
• Green Lantern
  • Guy Gardner and Kyle Rayner in Green Lantern Corps. So much so that Kyle's death causes Guy to become a Red Lantern.
  • The Green Lantern Corps is rife with this as is probably to be expected. In particular, Isamot Kol and his sector-partner Vath Sarn bicker Like an Old Married Couple and their interactions are loaded with Ho Yay.
• Teen Titans
  • Beast Boy and Cyborg. Cyborg is often bitter at what he frequently sees as the loss of part of his humanity, but Beast Boy can always cheer him up. Conversely, when Beast Boy hits a few too many points on the dingbat meter, Cyborg can bring him down to earth.
  • Wonder Girl, Donna Troy, and Starfire. It starts as a Friendly Rivalry as Donna is out to prove herself the superior Warrior Princess, grows as Starfire's flight method happens to rail road Donna's Not Quite Flight, and they both have sister issues.
• Batman and Superman, more so in some incarnations than others.
  • One of the major changes from pre-Crisis to Post-Crisis is the removal of this trope from Batman and Superman's relationship. The impact of Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, as well as Character Development in the Bronze Age that had turned Batman back to his dark roots, set the stage for relatively little kerfuffle over the retcon, the reasoning being that their "true" personalities (friendly, laid-back reporter versus gruff, brooding vigilante) were too different to get along.
  • The Superman/Batman title restored their close friendship.
  • In the New 52, they went from "distrustful, yet respecting" of the other, to actually pretty good friends. A new book, Batman/Superman, even details how they first met and shared adventures for the duo. Batman even keeps Superman & Wonder Woman's relationship a secret for as long as he could out of respect.
• Superman and his pal Jimmy Olsen:
  • Jimmy and Superman/Clark are (at least in some continuities) very close friends. During Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen, the two had no shame about expressing affection for each other either with words or with a hug, the newspapers ran stories on the friendship similar to a celebrity romance (though Lois received a similar amount of fame for being Superman's girlfriend) and Jimmy even spent the night in the Fortress of Solitude once after visiting the place for a story. However, both of them had romances with a number of women (most prominently Lois and her sister). In the new 52, they are roughly the same age and share an apartment.
  • Superman's Pal: Jimmy Olsen (2019): The two hang out together, their relationship is public knowledge, and the captions refer to Jimmy as Superman's non-biological brother and to Superman as Jimmy's "platonic plus-one" (not to mention Superman being Happily Married to Lois Lane by this point).
• Supergirl and Batgirl usually have this kind of relationship.
  • In the Pre-Crisis universe, Kara Zor-El and Barbara Gordon were best friends and knew each other's Secret Identity (although they didn't often team up, Supergirl was far more likely to be seen with Wonder Woman, even during that stretch where Diana wasn't Wonder Woman and insisting she couldn't help Supergirl). During the Crisis on Infinite Earths, Kara encouraged Barbara when Babs was frightened. And Barbara delivered Kara's eulogy when her friend died.
  • In the Post-Crisis continuity, Kara and Stephanie Brown. They love spending time together and helping each other. And if you pick on Steph, you will not know what hit you.
  • Kara and Wonder Girl Cassie Sandsmark were also very good friends before the reboot, once Cassie realized Kara had been suffering from a blood poisoning induced chemical imbalance. Initially they didn't get along at all, but Cassie could relate to mind altering sicknesses all too well.
  • In Supergirl (Rebirth) story arc "Escape from the Phantom Zone", Kara and Barbara meet and quickly become great friends again.
  • In Elseworld's Finest: Supergirl & Batgirl, Supergirl and Batgirl don't get along well at the beginning, but they become good friends during their adventure.
  • In Many Happy Returns, Pre-Crisis Kara and Post-Crisis Linda become this. Linda is initially weirded out because Kara's very existence shatters everything Linda knows about the world, and the cheerful Kara is hurt by being so harshly rejected, but once Linda realizes exactly who Kara is Linda tries to save Kara's life through a Heroic Sacrifice, having a breakdown when she fails. On the other hand, Kara openly says she trusts Linda with her life.
• Power Girl -Kara Zor-L- and Huntress -Helena Wayne-.
  • In the pre-Crisis universe they were best friends but their friendship came to an end when the Anti-Monitor destroyed Earth-2.
  • In the post-Flashpoint DC universe, Kara met Helena when she saved her life. Since then, they became "Best Friends. Forever". When they got stranded in the main Earth, they lived together. Helena called Kara her "oldest and dearest friend".
• Jason Todd and Roy Harper are this since the start of the The New 52 when they teamed up on Red Hood and the Outlaws. Despite having some obvious differences (and in Jason's case, reservations about the whole thing) the numerous adventures they had together made them inseparable.
  • DC has capitalized on this with the Sequel Series of RHATO, the appropriately titled Red Hood/Arsenal that chronicles the duo attempts of going legit as Vigilantes for Hire
• Wonder Woman:
  • Wonder Woman (1942): Bobby Strong and Glamora Treat spend most of their free time together, and know each other well enough that during times of crisis, like being ambushed, they don't even need to talk to each other to work seamlessly as a team.
  • Wonder Woman (1987): Ectreba and Sakritt were already inseparable allies long before Wondy showed up and led them in a slave revolt that ended up forcing an intergalactic empire to abolish slavery. After Wondy returns to earth, the two women remain as the captain and the captain's number two of the Space Pirate Revolutionary group that's been turned into privateers meant to prevent the return of slaver to the aforementioned Empire.