Mark and Atom Eve's relationship in the Invincible comics shows why more stories should ditch civilians and have their heroes date each other.
Robert Kirkman's Invincible has grown in popularity thanks to Amazon Prime's new animated adaptation, but while the central topic of discussion has revolved around the father/son relationship between Mark Grayson and Omni-Man, Atom Eve's chemistry with Mark portrays an equally refreshing take on superhero relationships. Though Eve and Mark are superheroes, Robert Kirkman, Cory Walker and Ryan Ottley's comic shines a light on realistic aspects of growing up as a teenager in the twenty-first century. In the comics, Mark develops as a hero while his friendship with Eve likewise blossoms into romance, and their relationship offers a surprisingly convincing argument for why superhero stories should experiment with heroes dating heroes.
Mark and Eve kick their relationship off as friends, though there is always a spark between them. Invincible chooses to be a member of the Teen Team so that Atom Eve can show him the ropes. She begins to lean on Mark more intimately after catching her ex-boyfriend, Rex Splode, cheating with Dupli-Kate. They are also the only two teammates who share a civilian life in the same school. However, Eve chooses not to pursue Mark after finding out he is dating Amber Bennett.
Eve eventually does end up with Mark, and it works out for both of them in the long run. Though Eve respects Mark's space while he's dating Amber, she also shows her true feelings now and then, complaining that dating non-powered people can be a pain because of the way it limits what's possible in any given moment. While there are practical issues within the world of the story (such as one member having a secret identity they must maintain at all costs), Invincible shows the potential for storytelling when both partners have powers, side-stepping old tropes like turning one member into a perpetual hostage or damsel.
There is plenty of stress in Mark's life when he first becomes Invincible, and he ultimately ends his relationship with Amber. It doesn't take long for him to warm up to Atom Eve - someone who is able to engage with superpowered problems on the same proactive level as Mark. When both partners are heroes, these issues can still have weight, but they're also treated as a recognizable part of the job - an attitude that generally puts both characters in step with genre-savvy readers. In Invincible #54, Mark is effectively kidnapped by time travelers and then returned to the moment he left - a journey the reader follows. Thanks to Atom Eve's similar experience with sci-fi weirdness, she's able to quickly accept his explanation, and the plot moves on.
Giving both partners powers also allows for a more holistic idea of a superhero's life. Following the time travel incident, Eve and Mark cross the world from Egypt to Antarctica on a whirlwind date. Part of the fun of superhero stories is their spectacle and ambition, and giving each partner enhanced physical abilities means these elements don't have to stop when the costume comes off.
The final issues of Invincible throw up a lot of complications, but Mark and Eve prove strong enough to pull through. Not only does Mark get to understand why Eve preferred dating other superheroes due to how well things end for him, but he also has confidence that they will last a long time. They eventually get married and become the proud parents of the young superhero Terra. Mark and Eve live out their married life as superheroes and parents, allowing Invincible to make an argument for other comics to rely less on the cliche of a superhero who struggles to maintain relationships with mere mortals and to instead embrace the idea of two people being super together.
