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In Hulkling and Wiccan #1, a meeting with a select few X-Men sparks the first major disagreement for Marvel’s iconic Young Avengers couple.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Hulkling and Wiccan #1, available now on Marvel Unlimited.
From the moment they were confirmed to be a couple in Young Avengers #6, by Allan Heinberg, Jim Chueng, John Dell, Dave Meikis, Jay Leisten, Justin Ponsor, and Cory Petit, Hulkling and Wiccan have maintained one of the healthiest relationships in Marvel history. Through consistent communication and reassuring gestures of affection, Hukling and Wiccan have avoided many of the emotional pitfalls that have eroded other superheroes’ relationships with their partners and built a relationship of mutual understanding and loyalty that culminated in the two’s long-awaited marriage during the Empyre crossover event.
Marriage is a difficult affair, however, and the added complications that Hulkling and Wiccan face as the co-rulers of the newly-declared Kree/Skrull Alliance are already putting pressure on their new life together. When the husband of the X-Men’s Northstar asks a question about the two’s living arrangements in Hulkling and Wiccan #1 (by Josh Trujillo, Jodi Nishijima, Matt Milla, and VS’s Ariana Maher), the couple’s complete shock over the fact that they might disagree on something, and the doubt this single disagreement causes them, casts a grim shadow over the two’s bright future together.
After taking some time to settle into their new home in the royal palace and get used to their new duties as the Emperor and Consort/Court Wizard of the Kree/Skrull Alliance, Hulkling and Wiccan decide to host a “diplomatic” banquet with other LGBTQ+ superheroes to celebrate their recent marriage and take some much needed time away from the stresses of running the Alliance. Attending this small gathering is Iceman, who came out as a gay man after being encouraged by his time-displaced younger self, and Alpha Flight’s Northstar, who brought along his husband Kyle Jinadu. Although the banquet begins on a high note, with Northstar admitting his jealousy over the fact that Hulkling and Wiccan were lucky enough to find each other so young, it takes an awkward turn when Kyle asks if the two plan on living in the palace from now on. To their mutual shock, Hulkling and Wiccan each give different answers.
While Hulkling is perfectly comfortable with the idea of living in space and fully committing himself to his duties as Emperor of the Kree/Skrull Alliance, Wiccan hopes that the two will be able to spend more time on Earth with their friends and fellow heroes once the Alliance’s political situation settles into a more stable state. The revelation that they don’t agree on something sends the newlyweds into a state of panic, as they’ve never really disagreed on anything before now. Although Northstar and Kyle assure the two that marriage is about compromise and that every couple has opposing habits and opinions that they need to find ways to work through, it’s obvious that this newfound conflict of interest has deeply unsettled each member of the newly-formed royal couple.
Hulkling and Wiccan aren’t given much time to address this issue once the banquet is over, as an unknown issue that requires imperial attention forces Hulkling to leave the palace before they can talk to each other about it. To make matters worse, the issue ends with the two of them becoming trapped within a spell cast by Agatha Harkness that places each of them in illusions where they are romantically involved with other people. While Agatha’s intentions for the couple aren’t clear at the moment, the fact that Hulkling and Wiccan’s false partners are in full support of their decision to stay in space and live on Earth respectively implies that the illusions are designed to test the couple’s love for each other by tempting them with idealized alternatives.
After coasting their way through one of the smoothest relationships in comic book history for several years, it seems that Hulkling and Wiccan are set to face their first real challenge as a married couple. Although the differences between them are being magnified by the powers of Harkness, at its core their situation is simply an exaggerated version of a dilemma that many newlywed couples go through as they begin the first phase of marital life, one that could bring them closer together or tear them apart.
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