The Human Torch has just reunited with his former soulmate, and doing so has proven how nearly impossible having a relationship is in the Marvel Universe.
WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for Fantastic Four #41, available now from Marvel.
The Reckoning has spread chaos and destruction throughout nearly every corner of the Marvel Universe, leaving nearly every hero scrambling to fight back against the myriad of threats that have arisen in its wake. In the case of the Fantastic Four’s Johnny Storm, aka the Human Torch, the battle has sent him across the cosmos. Unfortunately, Johnny has also discovered that the woman he loves left him for someone else a long time ago without him even realizing it.
While an all-seeing Reed Richards has taken a small team of heroes to the faraway reaches of Shi’ar space, Johnny Storm has departed on his own to the planet Spyre. As seen in the pages of Fantastic Four #41 (by Dan Slott, Rachael Stott, Erick Arciniega, and VC’s Joe Caramagna), Spyre has fallen prey to yet another Annihilation Wave. Worse still, Spyre’s superpowered protectors, the Unparalleled, can hardly keep up with the threat at hand. As soon as Johnny sees Sky of the Unparalleled under attack, he singlehandedly turns the tide of battle in a near-blind fury. Once the dust has settled and he has a chance to explain the situation to the others, Johnny realizes that Sky has fallen back in love with fellow Unparalleled member Citadel. Of course, considering the nature of their relationship, it’s impossible for Johnny to be angry with either of them.
First introduced in 2019’s Fantastic Four #15 by Dan Slott, Paco Medina, and Robert Quinn, Kaila, aka Sky, was a young Spyrican who underwent her people’s process of finding their soul mate at with absolute certainty. Initially, this seemed to draw her to Johnny Storm from dozens of lightyears away. When the Fantastic Four finally reached Spyre over a decade later, the heroes discovered that the world’s Overseer was responsible for the accident that gave them their powers. In the process, Johnny and Sky finally found the love they had been looking for, with the latter even rallying her world’s heroes against the Overseer. Their relationship was tested at times by the extreme distance that often existed between them, though it was Johnny’s dalliance with Victorious and Doctor Doom forcing Johnny’s powers to overload that brought things to an end.
Thanks to the soul bands that tied them together, as well as Sky’s powers coming from similar cosmic rays as Johnny’s, she suffered a similar transformation as he did. After becoming an unwitting victim to an unfaithful partner as well as a maniacal dictator, Sky returned to Spyre where she reconnected with her former soul mate Dellig, aka Citadel. As convoluted or tragic as the long between Johnny and Sky may be, it is anything but out of the ordinary for the Marvel Universe. The details may not be entirely applicable to other situations, but there are few if any superpowered couples who haven’t faced some sort of unthinkable hurdle in their relationship.
The most obvious example of this is easily Peter Parker and Mary Jane, who have gone so far as to trade their marriage away in a literal deal with the devil over the course of their decades long history. They, much like Johnny and Sky, have dealt with (and actually overcome) extraordinary circumstances in their relationship, yet those truly are just the status quo for anyone who finds themselves in Marvel’s spotlight. Even otherwise ordinary romances like Carol Danvers and James Rhodes had all have a way of being dashed by outside forces. In their particular case, it was Carol being ripped away to an alternate future and learning that Rhodey’s potential daughter wasn’t also hers. From the way things tend to play out between nearly every superpowered couple in the Marvel Universe, staying together might be the most difficult battle there is to possibly fight.
Thankfully, there are still some superpowered couples that have stood the test of time. Apart from Peter Parker and Mary Jane, Luke Cage and Jessica Jones may very well have the healthiest marriage Marvel has to offer. Not only have they stuck together through seemingly insurmountable odds, Luke and Jessica have effectively drawn the roadmap for how to stay happy and fulfilled while being an active part of a world as fantastical as it is terrifying. With any luck, their example will be the one that Johnny Storm decides to follow the next time he falls in love.
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