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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 136089
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| Posted: 28 April 2026 at 6:42pm | IP Logged | 1
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Found someone online grumbling about my “pairing” of Marinna and Namor, cuz he was fifty years older than her. Hm. I wonder how this poster felt about Jane Foster and Thor? Or when I was steering She-Hulk towards Hercules. Or, to flip it, Daredevil and Black Widow? (At the time of writing she was in her fifties, and Matt barely into his thirties.)
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James Johnson
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 March 2009
Location: United States
Posts: 2372
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| Posted: 28 April 2026 at 7:11pm | IP Logged | 2
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JB,
Don't give it oxygen.
In this age, there will always be online trolls looking for
Something Hidden In There
to justify their existence........
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Brian Miller
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 28 July 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 31999
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| Posted: 28 April 2026 at 7:26pm | IP Logged | 3
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Marrina is a fucking alien. Who’s to say what her actual age is?
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 136089
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| Posted: 28 April 2026 at 8:43pm | IP Logged | 4
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I suppose this one sticks in my craw because the trolls harp on it as if I’m the only one who’s ever played the May/September card. It speaks much to the sad lack of sophistication in some of the darker corners of the web. Review Hollywood’s output and see how much of a staple the older guy/younger girl motif has been—often without even acknowledging it. How many times did Humphrey Bogart hook up with “age appropriate” co-stars, even when playing characters younger than his actual age? shrug
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Dave Kopperman
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 27 December 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 4021
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| Posted: 28 April 2026 at 8:51pm | IP Logged | 5
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While none of the pairings mentioned above ever struck me as queasy, there have been times in comics (as with any medium) where the whole age difference thing has been a little iffy. One particularly notable one that read weird at the time and gets worse in retrospect every time I'm reminded of it was Hal Jordan/Arisia. So much time was spent establishing her as a teenager, and Hal rebuffing her because of the age difference. And then she's so hot for Hal that she uses her ring to mature herself. Which is already icky, but having Hal then become involved with her - immediately after learning that - is just pretty bad. Bad for the character - one of many lousy choices that lead to his eventual downfall, and bad for any impressionable young reader who might view what Arisia does as some form of proper consent.
Edited by Dave Kopperman on 28 April 2026 at 10:09pm
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 136089
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| Posted: 30 April 2026 at 10:51am | IP Logged | 6
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Well, how about STAR TREK’s Neelix and his girlfriend, who was less than FOUR?One of my favorite movies is the Doris Day/Clark Gable romance TEACHER’S PET (1958). Gable took the role after Cary Grant and Jimmy Stewart turned it down, deeming themselves too old! Both were younger than Gable.
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Dave Kopperman
Byrne Robotics Member
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Location: United States
Posts: 4021
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| Posted: 30 April 2026 at 11:58am | IP Logged | 7
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100% on Kes & Neelix. Didn’t help matters that she was also thrown into a love triangle with Paris. That was my ‘as with any medium’ aside - I can’t think of an art form that hasn’t had this particular line blurred. The definition of when it’s ‘okay’ are on a case-by-case basis, and mutates with the zeitgeist.
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Dave Kopperman
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 27 December 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 4021
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| Posted: 30 April 2026 at 1:19pm | IP Logged | 8
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Though a key difference with Hal/Arisia and Kes/Neelix was the former struck me as odd at the time because it was so heavily lampshaded in the story, whereas on Voyager, I didn't bat an eye about it. Maybe because while there was a two decade gap between Ethan Philips and Jennifer Lien, the relationship was never presented as a sexual one (that I can recall), and Lien herself was twenty at the time.
That having been said, I think in retrospect making Kes three years old and giving her a lifespan of only nine years was an odd choice that didn't pan out, especially when they could have given any number of other in-story reasons for her naïf-ness. Why plant land mines for yourself that you later have to step around? It's notable that Seven was configured in the same way; emotionally arrested as a child and completely oblivious to human social norms, particularly regarding sexuality. I guess the showrunners really felt the need to have a beautiful-but-naive young blond woman in the mix?
Edited by Dave Kopperman on 30 April 2026 at 1:27pm
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Peter Martin
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 17 March 2008
Location: Canada
Posts: 16434
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| Posted: 30 April 2026 at 1:34pm | IP Logged | 9
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QUOTE:
| Marrina is a fucking alien. Who’s to say what her actual age is? |
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Alpha Flight depicts her birth in Newfoundland and her genetic code is defined at that point. I'm going to say that says how old she is.
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
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| Posted: 30 April 2026 at 1:41pm | IP Logged | 10
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Marinna was hatched on Earth, t’is true, but I was careful not to specify how much development had occurred in the egg, or how much life experience she absorbed from Mrs Smallwood.
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