Romantic partnership is both a common and often fleeting element of superheroes’ lives. Being involved with someone—especially if they’re a civilian—is a tightrope walk, and it often doesn’t work out well. Still, while many romantic pairings have achieved legendary status (Superman and Lois Lane, Green Arrow and Black Canary, and Batman and Catwoman, just to name a few), many more have gone unsung. Black heroes are comparatively few in number, and their romantic partners occupy an even smaller space. Nevertheless, there is still a handful of truly moving stories of Love and loss that Black heroes have suffered, while some have actually gone the distance! Whether their story features a happy ending or a tragic one, here are five important Black romances from the DC Universe that you should know!

Mal Duncan and Karen Beecher

Onetime Teen Titans who have also been adapted to the small screen in the animated series Young Justice, Mal Duncan (a.k.a. Herald, Guardian, Vox and Hornblower) and his girlfriend-turned-wife Karen Beecher (a.k.a. Bumblebee) have been together for decades and remain one of DC’s longest-running pairings. Are they comics’ most preeminent black couple?

Originally, Mal Duncan was a young teenager who saved the first incarnation of the Teen Titans from a gang of street toughs called the Hell Hawks. Assuming the mantle of the Guardian with the former hero’s costume, Mal would fight alongside the team but feel inadequate due to his lack of super abilities. Wanting to impress her boyfriend’s team, Mal’s girlfriend Karen—a gifted university student with a specialty in applied sciences—made herself a working bee costume complete with flight capabilities and increased strength and attacked the Teen Titans under the guise of Bumblebee. Later, she revealed her ruse to Mal and the team. But instead of arresting her or taking away her equipment, the impressed Titans invited her to join the team.

Together, Mal and Karen fought side-by-side with the Titans until the original team was broken up by Speedy. Coming of age, Mal proposed to Karen, and the two quietly retired from active superhero work.

Mal and Karen would go on to have an off-and-on career as heroes, coming in and out of retirement should the Titans find themselves in dire straits. Despite this loyalty, the two have remained fiercely together and would quit once the life of their family depended on it. When Karen’s memory was temporarily lost during a fight with the Fearsome Five, the Duncan family seemingly left behind their heroic life for good. But time will tell whether the call for adventure might bring them back out into the field once again…

Steel and Dr. Amanda Quick

Steel, also known as Dr. John Henry Irons, has had a less than linear career as a superhero. It was the death of Superman that spurred him into action, having been saved by the Man of Steel once before and vowing to make his life worth something. Fashioning himself a high-tech suit of super-steel armor, John fought super-criminals for years before a battle with Hardwire exposed his secret identity to the world. In the ensuing chaos, his family was attacked and his grandmother was killed. After the battle was over, John moved to Jersey City with his niece Natasha to take up a job at a medical facility, all while struggling with being a now public hero.

John wasn’t the only one to change jobs, however. Dr. Amanda Quick, a physician who knew Steel professionally, moved with him and provided him friendship while John started at his new occupation. Working at the same company, Amanda made it openly known that she was attracted to the six-foot-seven super-scientist. Unfortunately, while Steel may excel in science and robotics, he’s far less competent when it comes to romance.

While John and Amanda struggled to learn what they meant to each other, a new worker at Garden State Medical named Sam Ellis made a play for Amanda. Little did they know that this man was also the new assassin in town, Skorpio, who had clashed with Steel on several occasions. When John and Amanda finally confessed their love for each other, Skorpio poisoned Natasha out of revenge. She required a full blood transfusion to overcome the poison.

Eventually, Skorpio was beaten and arrested, but Amanda was tragically put into handcuffs as well. To John’s heartbreak, she confessed that she knew of Sam’s true identity and refused to tell John, hoping she could resolve the situation herself and inadvertently making herself responsible for Natasha’s near death. She was taken into custody and charged as an accomplice.

Cyborg and Sarah Charles

Vic Stone has always been one of the more tragic members of the Titans family, often struggling with his identity as a human being after being turned into a half-machine against his will. But throughout it all, there have been a number of people happy to call him their friend…and some who longed for an even deeper relationship with the hero.

Sarah Charles was a scientist working at the famous S.T.A.R. Labs. Based in New York City where the Teen Titans operated from, Vic would often see her whenever he needed technological-medical assistance. If one of his robotic limbs fell off, Sarah was right there to help attach it back. She even offered to create a new kind of synthetic flesh to give him a more traditionally human appearance, but to no avail. Still, the two began to grow close and despite Cyborg’s often loud pity parties of not being completely human, Sarah confessed to the Titan that she had fallen in love with him.

There were complications, however. For one, Cyborg was twenty years old when they began dating, and Sarah was twenty-eight. He wasn’t sure how to carry himself in public around her. Things became even more complicated when Sarah received a job transfer to San Francisco, a move which Cyborg was positive would break them apart.

But that wasn’t what did them in. After a missile crash in which Cyborg’s body was seemingly destroyed, Sarah and the Titans were horrified to discover that his mind was lost, rendering him catatonic. Surprisingly, he gained his cognition back when the machine planet Technis restored it in exchange for information about Earth. This meant that Cyborg could not stay on his planet and he seemed to merge with the techno-planet, never again to return to the ones who loved him.

The final nail in their romance was many year later, with Cyborg back and leading a new generation of Titans. By this time, Sarah had become engaged to a coworker named DeShaun and Cyborg was invited to be their best man. Accepting that he and Sarah were no longer meant for each other, Cyborg took with him as his date the first Sarah he fell in love with—Sarah Simms. As he watched the love of his life marry another man, Cyborg remained positive that he would not continue life alone, and that eventually he would find someone else that seemed to understand him the way that Sarah Charles had.

Hardware and Bakari Young

Milestone’s Hardware didn’t plan on starting out as a hero. In fact, putting on the techno-suit from which he derives his name was meant to be nothing more than pure and simple revenge. But a friend and colleague named Bakari would soon help him be a better man and the two fell in love as a result.

Curtis Metcalf was a brilliant inventor who had his credit stolen from him by the very man he trusted to ensure his future: Edwin Alva of Alva Industries. Learning of Alva’s criminal operations, Curtis became the high-flying Hardware and waged a brutal war against Alva and his gang of super-powered crooks, killing whenever he deemed it necessary. One night, as he collapsed in his home from a battle, Curtis awoke to discover Bakari—a colleague and former girlfriend—had come by his apartment, finding him in his Hardware armor.

Curtis explained his reasons, but Bakari no longer saw him as the same man. Knowing he was a remorseless killer changed how she viewed him, and Curtis was affected by that. One night, he dreamt that Bakari gave a lecture, unearthing Curtis’ shortcomings as a man and so-called superhero. He woke up with a new sense of purpose. From that point on, he’d no longer be motivated by revenge, but by justice.

Still, this wasn’t quite enough. As they grew closer, Bakari would be upfront with Curtis: he should give up the suit. As a scientist, he would be of better use to the world than risking his life fighting crime every night. In the final issue of the series, the two agreed to take a train and leave Dakota forever. Unfortunately, Bakari found herself taking that train alone, as Curtis felt the need to don the armor once again. She left town thinking there’s no changing the man that she loves, unaware that at that moment, Curtis is desperately flying her way, hoping to spot her train.

Green Lantern and Vixen

Yes, this applies chiefly to the animated version of the Justice League on Justice League: Unlimited. But seeing as how a generation of viewers and fans grew up with John Stewart as their Green Lantern, this romance remains iconic.

Vixen’s real name is Mari McCabe, a woman with a supernatural animal totem that imbues her with the strength and ability of any animal she chooses. Together she and John battle Solomon Grundy, the Shadow Thief and many others as part of the Justice League and maintain a romance on their off-hours.

Many fans believed that Vixen was merely a rebound for John after his earlier relationship with Hawkgirl, but John remains committed throughout the rest of the series. When Vixen is attacked by the Shadow Thief and injured, John stays by her side. And when both John and Shayera learn in a past life that they were Egyptian lovers and have a son in the future named Warhawk, John refuses to let himself be swayed by fate and remains Vixen’s partner. Even in the pages of the recent Justice League Infinity, the two are still together, with nary a sideways glance by John at his old love. The fact that this series—and romance—was also mainstream audiences’ first introduction to the character of Vixen, was just icing on the cake. But with subsequent appearances on Arrow, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow and in her own animated series, it’s hard to argue that she didn’t benefit from her time with John. Who says relationships only hold you back?
 

Donovan Morgan Grant writes about comics, graphic novels and superhero history for DC.com. Follow him on Twitter at @donoDMG1.

NOTE: The views and opinions expressed in this feature are solely those of Mason Downey and do not necessarily reflect those of DC Entertainment or Warner Bros.