Byrne Robotics: Age Gap Again

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Topic: Age Gap Again

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John Byrne
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Grumpy Old Guy

Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 136075

Posted: 28 April 2026 at 6:42pm \| IP Logged \| 1	post reply

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
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Joined: 16 March 2009
Location: United States
Posts: 2371

Posted: 28 April 2026 at 7:11pm \| IP Logged \| 2	post reply

JB,

Don't give it oxygen.

In this age, there will always be online trolls looking for

Something

Hidden

There

to justify their existence........

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Brian Miller
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Joined: 28 July 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 31990

Posted: 28 April 2026 at 7:26pm \| IP Logged \| 3	post reply

Marrina is a fucking alien. Who’s to say what her actual age is?

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John Byrne
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Grumpy Old Guy

Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 136075

Posted: 28 April 2026 at 8:43pm \| IP Logged \| 4	post reply

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
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Joined: 27 December 2004
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Posts: 4016

Posted: 28 April 2026 at 8:51pm \| IP Logged \| 5	post reply

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 iffy, but having Hal then become involved with her - immediately after learning that - is just pretty bad. Bad for the character - one of many iffy 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.

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