Written by Jim Shooter and penciled by Paul Ryan, Spider-Man Annual #21 features a scene in which Spider-Man stands in full costume next to his soon-to-be bride Mary Jane Watson. Behind them are friends and foes alike, including Thor, Captain America, and Hobgoblin (who, upon seeing the happy couple, mutters to himself, “Die”). Peter’s also greeted by Aunt May and his deceased Uncle Ben, a happy reunion that turns sour when the wedding is interrupted by another dead loved one, his former girlfriend Gwen Stacy. Gwen’s arrival gives the baddies the distraction they needed, and they leap into action to attack MJ.
And then Peter wakes up. Yes, the requisite big superhero fight sequence in Spider-Man Annual #21 happens in a dream. And that’s a good thing, because that leaves plenty of room to truly explore everything that Peter went through to get to this point, the one time his Ol’ Parker Luck worked in his favor. By the time Pete and MJ say “I do,” they’ve established one of the best marriages in comics, one so strong that only Satan, or rather Mephisto, could undo it.
Superman and Lois Lane
Superman: The Wedding Album, 1996
Not to be outdone, DC Comics finally wedded its primary couple in 1996, bringing together Clark Kent and Lois Lane. As with the Parkers, Lois and Clark have a relatively uneventful event—a fact helped in universe by the fact that Superman had recently lost his powers when the sun was extinguished during the Final Night crossover (don’t worry, Green Lantern turned it back on).
However, outside of the fictional universe, the marriage was a key event. After all, DC was undoing one of the genre’s greatest ficitional love triangles, a decision that could be even more momentous as killing Superman just a few years later. To do it right, DC brought aboard a host of top-notch creators to tell the story, including Dan Jurgens (the primary Superman creative at the time), as well John Byrne, George Pérez, Gil Kane, and Curt Swan. Even if the plot itself isn’t too crazy, the creatives involved in the Superman: The Wedding Album remain impressive.
Colossus and Kitty Pryde
X-Men Gold #30, 2018
