History BettyAndVeronica / ComicBooks

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[[AC:FranchiseMarvelUniverse]]

!!The following have their own pages:
[[index]]
* BettyAndVeronica/TheDCU
* BettyAndVeronica/MarvelUniverse
[[/index]]

'''Trope Namer'''

'''Other'''

** Cheryl Blossom is [[ThirdOptionLoveInterest a third rival]], often portrayed as [[TheVamp a selfish and spoiled seducer]]. Her presence is often a factor that makes Betty and Veronica -- temporarily -- call a truce.

* British 1940's comic strip ''Buck Ryan'' had private investigator Buck's action secretary Zola (blond) as Betty, and his originally arch-nemesis Twilight (brunette, missing an ear) as Veronica.

** Cheryl Blossom is a third rival, often portrayed as [[TheVamp a selfish and spoiled seducer]]. Her presence is often a factor that makes Betty and Veronica -- temporarily -- call a truce.

* The comic adaptation of ''WesternAnimation/CaptainNTheGameMaster'' had Princess Lana as the Betty, while the Veronica was none other than ''[[VideoGame/{{Metroid}} Samus Aran]]''.

** Aristogeiton is Betty and Hipparchus is Veronica (a chief magistrate with great power) to Harmodius' Archie. Taken UpToEleven, as when Hipparchus separates Armodios and Aristoghiton, the last two plan on killing him.

* The TropeNamer example is deconstructed in ''ComicBook/{{Criminal}}: The Last of the Innocent'', where after years of unhappy marriage to the shallow, adulterous and manipulative "Veronica" {{Expy}}, the "Archie" stand-in realizes he made the wrong choice and really should have stayed with the "Betty" {{Expy}}. Unfortunately, his solution to the problem... well, [[FilmNoir let's just say there's a reason the series is called 'Criminal'.]]

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[[quoteright:275:[[ComicBook/SpiderMan https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screenshot_2020_05_24_at_51854_pm_8.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:275:[[FieryRedhead MJ]] or [[HairOfGoldHeartOfGold Gwen]]?]]

* ''ComicBook/{{Sleeper}}'' has a version of this with the main character Holden Carver, his former government coworker Veronica (Betty), and supervillain Gretchen/Miss Misery (Veronica). The end result is a truly spectacular and accidental [[spoiler: MurderTheHypotenuse, with Veronica shooting Gretchen, thinking she was about to kill Holden, and Holden reflexively shooting Veronica dead. He then had an experimental surgery to cure his condition that left him in a vegetative state, with his superior creating a little mental world for him where he lives on a beach with both Veronica ''and'' Gretchen, making this a rare canononical quasi-OT3 solution]].

'''DC'''
* Franchise/{{Batman}}... Whoo. Where to start? His most recurring love interests are IntrepidReporter Vicki Vale (Betty) and ClassyCatBurglar Catwoman (Veronica). Most tellings have him choose Catwoman in the end, or just wind up alone. But it gets a bit more complicated than that...
** They rarely appear alongside each other, but Talia al Ghul (raised by a well-connected criminal mastermind) is the Veronica to Catwoman's (raised on the streets) Betty. Emphasized in recent comics by Talia being the mother of Bruce's child he didn't know he had, and Catwoman becoming his fiancé.
** In the Golden Age, Bruce went from wealthy socialite Julie Madison (Veronica) to Linda Page, another socialite, but one who worked at a nursing home as a way of giving back to the community (Betty).
** In the Silver Age, where Catwoman was more villainous, Vicki Vale was the Betty to the thrillseeking Kathy Kane's Veronica.
** The 70s reintroduced Vicki Vale as Betty, but she largely fell by the wayside in favor of socialite Silver St. Cloud (Veronica).
** In the 80s Vicki was again the Betty, while Julia Remarque, a coworker of Vale's who turned out to be Alfred's daughter by a French adventuress, was the Veronica. And Natalia Knight, a reformed henchwoman to the villain Thief of Night, was ''even more'' Veronica.
* Due to editorial confusion, [[ComicBook/{{Nightwing}} Dick Grayson]] had considerable UnresolvedSexualTension with two different love interests at the same time: nerdy hacker [[ComicBook/{{Oracle}} Barbara]] [[HotLibrarian Gordon]] (Betty), his former teenage crush, and dangerous anti-heroine [[ComicBook/{{Huntress}} Helena]] [[ActionGirl Bertinelli]] (Veronica), whom he had a one-night stand with.
** And even in ComicBook/New52, this dynamic seems to continue in ComicBook/{{Grayson}}. [[PragmaticHero Helena]] is Dick's partner in Spyral, while he and [[ChildhoodFriends Barbara]] still appear to have lingering feelings for one another, despite the latter thinking that Dick is dead.
** Also ComicBook/{{Starfire}} (Veronica) and Barbara (Betty). The first was an extraterrestrial princess descended from cats who had spent her adolescence in slavery. The second was the daughter (or niece and/or adopted daughter) of Gotham police commissioner James Gordon who had spent her adolescence earning a library science degree. Kory was emotionally open and naïve about life on Earth; Barbara was all about knowledge. Kory was a towering, buxom, barely-dressed supermodel who represented physical power and pleasure. Barbara at that point was paralyzed from the waist down and represented intellectual power and pleasure.
* Tim Drake (ComicBook/{{Robin|Series}} III) from the Franchise/{{Batman}} series has had his own personal love triangle in the early run of [[ComicBook/RobinSeries his solo book]]. He was dating civilian Ariana Dzerchenko (Betty) but was attracted to vigilante Stephanie Brown (Veronica) at the same time. Ironic, because Ariana has Veronica's physical appearance and bitchiness, and Stephanie has Betty's physical appearance and tomboyishness. Ultimately, Stephanie wins the triangle, with her becoming his most high-profile (and longest) relationship in the series.
** Even after Stephanie and Tim's breakup, her fake 'death', Tim dating a new girl called Zoanne and later Stephanie's subsequent return to Gotham -- Stephanie was still the Veronica, this time to Zoanne's Betty. And again, Stephanie wins the triangle (technically), with Tim breaking up with Zoanne on the phone, and then calling up Stephanie to try and patch things up with her.
** In ''ComicBook/RedRobin'', Tam is now the new Betty to [[ComicBook/Batgirl2009 Stephanie]]'s Veronica. And Lynx is the ThirdOptionLoveInterest.
** Any of Tim's civilian girlfriends will end up being the 'Betty' by default due to his working partnership/love-hate-on-off relationship with Stephanie (who is always the Veronica).
* In Silver Age ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'', ComicBook/LoisLane was somewhat Veronica-ish compared to Clark's childhood sweetheart ComicBook/LanaLang. In the early modern continuity, Lois, a brassy investigative journalist who wouldn't give Clark the time of day romantically, was the Veronica, while sensitive, feminine, openly-in-love-with-Clark Cat Grant was clearly the Betty.
** Reversed with Lois (now portrayed a sensible no-nonsense reporter) and Cat (vain and demanding gossip columnist) as respectively the Betty and the Veronica in ''ComicBook/SupermanSecretOrigin'', which once again re-established Superman's origin in the post-Infinite Crisis continuity.
** And later, after Lois fell in love with Clark and discovered his secret identity, she viewed Wonder Woman as the Veronica on several occasions. This was an unfounded worry on her part though, since Supes and Wondy are LikeBrotherAndSister... [[RelationshipUpgrade although not]] in the ComicBook/New52.
* Franchise/{{Superman}}'s clone ComicBook/{{Superboy}} had to choose between journalist Tana Moon (the Betty) and his agent's daughter Roxy Leech (the Veronica). Then his cellular matrix started to decay, and he was recreated with Roxy's genes, making them LikeBrotherAndSister. Then he fell in with Knockout (another Veronica) before [[DatingCatwoman realising she was evil]]. Then Tana went on sabbatical, and [[BackForTheDead came back just to get killed]].
* Speaking of Superboy (Conner Kent) and Robin III (Tim Drake), both have dated ComicBook/{{Wondergirl}}. It wasn't much of a triangle to begin with as Tim and Cassie were a very brief thing with each looking for solace after their significant others had died (Steph and Conner both got better) but Tim could be Betty/the nice guy and Conner Veronica/the bad boy.
* ''Franchise/WonderWoman'' [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 Vol 1]]: In the Wonder Girl "Impossible Tales" WG has a pair of suitors in the bumbling merboy Ronno/Renno (Betty) and the tough guy male harpy "Wingo" (Veronica). Given the nature of the series while she goes on dates with each of them she never chooses one and moves on from them after leaving Paradise Island to become a superhero.

'''Marvel'''
* The ''[[ComicBook/{{Deadpool}} Deadpool: Merc with a Mouth]]'' mini-series had a literal Betty (Swanson, an A.I.M. HotScientist who is disgusted by him) and Veronica (Chase, an ESU [[HotTeacher professor]] who had the hots for him). Unfortunately, the latter ended up being zombified, so he's stuck with the hot blonde who hates his guts.
* In ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'', [[ComicBook/SubMariner Namor]] is the Veronica to the Invisible Woman]'s Archie and Mr Fantastic's Betty.
** And as of ComicBook/DarkReign during which Namor joined the X-Men he's become the Veronica to Emma Frost/Archie and Cyclops/Betty.
** The early nineties Namor series had a love triangle with Namor as Archie, Carrie Alexander (who helped him set up Oracle Inc. and her and her father cured Namor's blood chemistry imbalance) as the Betty and Phoebe Marrs (RichBitch who ran Marrs Corp with her brother, the two of them tried to ruin Oracle Inc. before Pheobe legimately fell for Namor) as Veronica.
* ''ComicBook/IncredibleHulk'' has Betty choosing between Bruce the Betty and Glenn the Veronica.
** The ''ComicBook/ChaosWar'' would also have Jarella as the Betty and Red She-Hulk aka [[spoiler:Betty]] as the Veronica.
* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'':
** A lot of the pairings have been seen as analogues to the Archie Comics' Betty and Veronica, especially Gwen Stacy and Mary Jane Watson, even though the latter is a redhead, not a brunette. Gwen seemed to have won...until she died. Later, the comic briefly had Mary Jane as the Betty and Black Cat as the Veronica. Then Spidey hitched up with MJ and spent the next twenty years of real time in marital bliss with an understanding supermodel.
** Spider-Man writers seem to be fond of this trope. Originally it was a choice between "mature" brunette secretary Betty Brant (amusingly, the Betty) and the more girlish, flighty blonde Liz Allen (Veronica), who was briefly relieved by rich, stuck-up Gwen Stacy. After Betty left, Gwen became the sweet Betty and the Veronica role went to MJ. After Gwen's death MJ became the Betty and later on the Black Cat became the Veronica. Mary Jane in some ways subverted the Veronica role, though, as she always got on well with Peter's Aunt May (better than Gwen did, in fact) and always was [[ArrangedMarriage the surrogate parents' choice]].
** The popularity of the trope manifests itself in the way characters are reinterpreted by readers so that they resemple the Archie archetypes more. This happens especially with Gwen Stacy -- many of her fans incorrectly see her as a GirlNextDoor like Betty Cooper (she comes from an upper-class Anglo-American family and Peter Parker only got to meet her when they started college because she lived in a different part of New York) and tend to downplay her beauty (Gwen was introduced as a high-school beauty queen and in one story she is taken along to the Savage Land to provide bikini-clad eye-candy). This popular misconception probably contributed to Gwen's reinvention in various adaptations, where she for instance becomes Peter Parker's high school classmate. As for Mary Jane, she grew up in a poor family and actually did spend much of her childhood living next-door to Peter, making her a literal GirlNextDoor, though they didn't meet until their aunts set them up on a blind date.
** Ben Reilly had the spoiled and sometimes selfish blonde fashion student and the twisted, down to earth gothic girl. She was also the daughter of uncle Ben's murderer. In effect he had two Veronicas.
** The UltimateUniverse swaps them, [[BettyAndVeronicaSwitch making Mary Jane the Betty and Gwen the Veronica]]. Then Peter chooses Mary Jane and Gwen is killed. Peter subsequently got involved with Ultimate Kitty Pryde and the clone of Gwen, but always returned to Mary Jane, until he was ultimately killed. Although the three alternated between being part of an OfficialCouple and the Rival, in truth all three are more Bettys than Veronicas.
* Possibly in [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor's]] case, Sif could to be his "Betty" and [[DatingCatwoman Amora]] ComicBook/{{the Enchantress}} his "Veronica" or Jane Foster is Betty and Sif is Veronica.
* ''ComicBook/XMen'' had a long-running LoveTriangle with ComicBook/JeanGrey, Cyclops (Betty), and Wolverine (Veronica)...which was turned on its head during Grant Morrison's early 2000s run, which introduced a Betty And Veronica love triangle with Cyclops as the center figure, Jean as the Betty, and ComicBook/EmmaFrost as the Veronica. Both Cyclops and Jean ultimately choose their Bettys, but this hasn't stopped the ShipTease. As of [[ComicBook/JonathanHickmansXMen the Hickman run]], [[spoiler: Jean is confirmed to be in a polyamorous relationship with both Cyclops and Wolverine, while Scott is also heavily implied to be with Emma Frost, as well.]]
** In the earlier days, the Jean Grey love triangle had Angel in place of Wolverine, as Wolverine hadn't been introduced yet.
** Another example was the love triangle between Havok, Polaris, and Iceman with Havok as the Veronica and Iceman as the Betty. Havok and Polaris have been through hell and back together since the earliest days of the comic.
** Taking Rogue as Archie, she has Joseph (Betty) and Gambit (Veronica), then she has Gambit as the Betty and Magneto as the Veronica.
** ''ComicBook/AllNewXMen'' was on track to set up yet ''another'' Betty and Veronica relationship involving Cyclops, this time taking full advantage of RuleSixtyThree and TimeTravel, with Teen!Scott matched up with Teen!Jean (Betty) and ComicBook/{{X 23}} (Veronica). But then Scott goes into space and the LoveTriangle is shot down completely before it can get off the ground.
** Moira [=MacTaggert=] is the Betty and Lilandra of the Shi'Ar Empire is the Veronica to Charles Xavier's Archie.
* Another ''X-Men'' example is ''ComicBook/GenerationX,'' where BaldBlackLeaderGuy Everett, aka Synch's, affections was one of ''many'' things spunky Jubilee (Betty) and beautiful, classy Monet (Veronica) butted heads over. Sadly for poor Jubilee, Synch just saw her as a good friend or little sister figure. And to add insult to injury, he would sometimes talk to Jubilee about how beautiful he found Monet, in addition to trying to talk to her about his relationship struggles with Monet.
* ''ComicBook/YoungAvengers'' has NiceGuy Eli and BadBoy Tommy for Kate.
* The original [[ComicBook/CaptainMarVell Captain Marvel]] series had the hero torn between his regular, dependable fellow [[HumanAliens Kree]] military nurse girlfriend Una (Betty) and a female security officer at the NASA facility he was infiltrating, sexier and more assertive ex-military career girl Carol Danvers (Veronica). Though the stories also played around more than a bit with the stereotypes; for example, the fragile flower Una was [[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass actually]] the one of the two who usually showed more coolness and competence under fire, and Marvel by and large stuck to her, even when Carol pursued him quite aggressively by the standards of the day. [[spoiler: And then ''Una'' got the ''[[KilledOffForReal un]]''happy ending, while Carol got to be [[ComicBook/MsMarvel a superheroine herself]]]].

** And even in Comicbook/{{New52}}, this dynamic seems to continue in Comicbook/{{Grayson}}. [[PragmaticHero Helena]] is Dick's partner in Spyral, while he and [[ChildhoodFriends Barbara]] still appear to have lingering feelings for one another, despite the latter thinking that Dick is dead.

* Tim Drake (Comicbook/{{Robin|Series}} III) from the Franchise/{{Batman}} series has had his own personal love triangle in the early run of [[ComicBook/RobinSeries his solo book]]. He was dating civilian Ariana Dzerchenko (Betty) but was attracted to vigilante Stephanie Brown (Veronica) at the same time. Ironic, because Ariana has Veronica's physical appearance and bitchiness, and Stephanie has Betty's physical appearance and tomboyishness. Ultimately, Stephanie wins the triangle, with her becoming his most high-profile (and longest) relationship in the series.

** In ''Comicbook/RedRobin'', Tam is now the new Betty to [[ComicBook/Batgirl2009 Stephanie]]'s Veronica. And Lynx is the ThirdOptionLoveInterest.

** And later, after Lois fell in love with Clark and discovered his secret identity, she viewed Wonder Woman as the Veronica on several occasions. This was an unfounded worry on her part though, since Supes and Wondy are LikeBrotherAndSister... [[RelationshipUpgrade although not]] in the Comicbook/{{New 52}}.

* ''Comicbook/IncredibleHulk'' has Betty choosing between Bruce the Betty and Glenn the Veronica.

* Possibly in [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor's]] case, Sif could to be his "Betty" and [[DatingCatwoman Amora]] {{ComicBook/the Enchantress}} his "Veronica" or Jane Foster is Betty and Sif is Veronica.

** ''Comicbook/AllNewXMen'' was on track to set up yet ''another'' Betty and Veronica relationship involving Cyclops, this time taking full advantage of RuleSixtyThree and TimeTravel, with Teen!Scott matched up with Teen!Jean (Betty) and Comicbook/{{X 23}} (Veronica). But then Scott goes into space and the LoveTriangle is shot down completely before it can get off the ground.

* ''{{ComicBook/Crimson}}'' had Zophiel, the sensitive and vulnerable FallenAngel as the Betty and Scarlet, [[MsFanservice a gorgeous]] [[ActionGirl monster hunter]] as the Veronica for the [[FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire vampire hero]] Alex's Archie. [[spoiler:In the end he gets neither, as Zophiel pulls a HeroicSacrifice and he leaves Scarlet so he can embark on a quest to become human again]].

* ''Comicbook/{{Sleeper}}'' has a version of this with the main character Holden Carver, his former government coworker Veronica (Betty), and supervillain Gretchen/Miss Misery (Veronica). The end result is a truly spectacular and accidental [[spoiler: MurderTheHypotenuse, with Veronica shooting Gretchen, thinking she was about to kill Holden, and Holden reflexively shooting Veronica dead. He then had an experimental surgery to cure his condition that left him in a vegetative state, with his superior creating a little mental world for him where he lives on a beach with both Veronica ''and'' Gretchen, making this a rare canononical quasi-OT3 solution]].

* Conversed somewhere in a {{ComicBook/Vampirella}} issue, where a critic called Vampirella and Pantha "...Betty and Veronica with fangs...". [[Administrivia/SquarePegRoundTrope Square Peg, Rhombical Trope -]] they fit the definitions given here only approximately.

* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1942'': In the Wonder Girl "Impossible Tales" WG has a pair of suitors in the bumbling merboy Ronno/Renno (Betty) and the tough guy male harpy "Wingo" (Veronica). Given the nature of the series while she goes on dates with each of them she never chooses one and moves on from them after leaving Paradise Island to become a superhero.

** Moira MacTaggert is the Betty and Lilandra of the Shi'Ar Empire is the Veronica to Charles Xavier's Archie.

* Being an Archie Comic, not even ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehog'' was safe from this. To wit, Sonic and Princess Sally were always the Archie and the Betty, flip-flopping with the long list of Veronicas that wandered in - Bunnie Rabbot (who hopped off that train the same panel she hopped on), Geoffrey St. John, Mina Mongoose, Fiona Fox and Monkey Khan. Amy Rose was usually the ThirdOptionLoveInterest when Sonic was the Archie.
** Fiona Fox briefly had this between Sonic and his MirrorUniverse EvilTwin Scourge. She decided that Scourge was a ''lot'' better than Sonic. Unwittingly, she caused this between Sonic and ''Tails'', mostly because Sonic had no idea Tails had any sort of attraction towards her and after it initially came out, Sonic thought it was just water under the bridge.

* ''ComicBook/XMen'' had a long-running LoveTriangle with ComicBook/JeanGrey, Cyclops (Betty), and Wolverine (Veronica)...which was turned on its head during Grant Morrison's early 2000s run, which introduced a Betty And Veronica love triangle with Cyclops as the center figure, Jean as the Betty, and ComicBook/EmmaFrost as the Veronica. Then Jean dies, with [[WordOfGod the writers]] claiming [[BlatantLies she won't be back]], but absolutely no readers believe that since coming BackFromTheDead is part of Jean's power set.

* Due to editorial confusion, [[ComicBook/{{Nightwing}} Dick Grayson]] had considerable UnresolvedSexualTension with two different love interests at the same time: nerdy hacker [[ComicBook/{{Batgirl}} Barbara]] [[HotLibrarian Gordon]] (Betty), his former teenage crush, and dangerous anti-heroine [[ComicBook/{{Huntress}} Helena]] [[ActionGirl Bertinelli]] (Veronica), whom he had a one-night stand with.

** Also Starfire (Veronica) and Barbara (Betty). The first was an extraterrestrial princess descended from cats who had spent her adolescence in slavery. The second was the daughter (or niece and/or adopted daughter) of Gotham police commissioner James Gordon who had spent her adolescence earning a library science degree. Kory was emotionally open and naïve about life on Earth; Barbara was all about knowledge. Kory was a towering, buxom, barely-dressed supermodel who represented physical power and pleasure. Barbara at that point was paralyzed from the waist down and represented intellectual power and pleasure.

* Speaking of Superboy (Conner Kent) and Robin III (Tim Drake), both have dated Wondergirl. It wasn't much of a triangle to begin with, but Tim could be Betty/the nice guy and Conner Veronica/the bad boy. With the new Comicbook/TeenTitans reboot, it seems like there's a possibility this triangle might be happening soon.