Pregnancy in Comics
Once again, pregnancy and child-bearing has become an issue in comics, thanks to Avengers Disassembled and now House of M. I figured this would be a good time to take another look at the list of Comic Book Pregnancies.
Heroes:
ADAM STRANGE
1. Alanna dies during childbirth.
ANIMAL MAN
1. Annie was pregnant and gave birth in the last issues of the series.
AQUAMAN
1. Dolphin and Garth (Tempest) had a son, Cerridan.
2. Mera’s pregnancy happened “off camera”.
AVENGERS
1. Scarlet Witch’s pregnancy was shown in the Scarlet Witch and the Vision mini-series, though her twins were later ret-conned out of existence. This led her to become murderously insane and now crossover-miniseries-murderously insane.
2. Ms. Marvel was pregnant*
BATMAN COMICS
1. Spoiler was pregnant and gave her child up for adoption in Robin; she later died during Wargames.
2. Francine (Man-Bat’s wife) was pregnant in Batman in the 1970’s.
3. Batman and Talia had a son in the more-or-less non-canon Son of the Demon (though the pregnancy was pretty much “off screen”
FANTASTIC FOUR
1. Sue Richards had Franklin, and then lost her second pregnancy. A magical/time-stream induced third pregnancy recently gave the Richards a daughter, Valeria.
2. Lyja Storm was pregnant and gave birth to an egg.
3. Crystal and Pietro (Quicksilver) have a daughter Luna. Reed Richards (apparently an obstetrician in his spare time) delivered the baby.
FLASH
1. Iris was pregnant with twins at the time that the silver age Flash (Barry Allen) died.
2. Linda West lost twins due to an attack by Zoom. There is some question as to whether she’ll be able to become pregnant again.
INCREDIBLE HULK
1. Betty Banner was pregnant, but miscarried.
IRON MAN
1. Pepper Potts was pregnant, but miscarried.
JLA
1. Sue Dibny was pregnant when she was killedin Identity Crisis #1
JSA
1. Hawkgirl was pregnant as a teenager and gave the child up for adoption.
2. Dove was raped by Hank Hall (Hawk) and later gave birth to a child who ultimately ended up housing the soul of the new Dr. Fate, Hector Hall.
INFINITY INC.
1. Hippolyta Hall was pregnant a *long* time, and ultimately gave birth to Daniel (who was taken from her by Morpheus to become the new Sandman).
KILLRAVEN
1. Carmilla Frost discovered she was pregnant in the Killraven graphic novel.
LOSH (1)
1. Garth Ranzz (Lightning Lad) and Irma Ranz (Saturn Girl) had twins. (Twins are the usual on Garth’s home planet Winath; however, twins are determined maternally and Irma come from Titan. Plus are the twins fraternal or identical? Both have been shown on Winath in the series.)
LOSH (2)
1. In the “five years later” Legion, Night Girl was not only married to Cosmic Boy, but also pregnant.
2. Laurel Gand had a child by Rond Vidar.
LOSH (3)
1. Apparition (Tinya Wazzo) and Ultra Boy (Jo Nah) have married and had a child (Cub).
L.E.G.I.O.N.
1. Stealth had a child by Vril Dox.
MIRACLEMAN
1. Liz Moran gave birth in Miracleman #9.
MR. MIRACLE
1. Beautiful Dreamer was pregnant and gave birth.
NOBLE FAMILY
1. Zephyr became pregnant after a spiteful “night of passion” with her family’s greatest enemy.
SABRE
1. Melissa Siren was pregnant and gave birth in Sabre.
STARMAN
1. Jack fathered children with the Mist (see below) and his significant other, Sadie.
SPIDER-MAN
1. Gwen Stacy had twins after an ill-advised tryst with Spider-Man’s greatest enemy: Norman Osborn (the Green Goblin).
TEAM TITANS
1. Donna Troy was pregnant at the beginning of this series. Her husband and child died in a car accident, and then she died in Graduation Day.
2. Mirage was pregnant at the end of the series.
X-MEN
1. Madelynne Prior was pregnant with Scott Summer’s child (and gave birth to him) in the Uncanny X-Men. This child later went on through a very convoluted storyline to become Cable.
Villains:
Punch & Jewlee
They showed up in Hawk & Dove toting a toddler, but I don’t know if the pregnancy was ever mentioned or shown in Suicide Squad or elsewhere.
Chesire
Gave birth to Lianne, fathered by Speedy/Arsenal (Roy Harper), but I don’t know if the pregnancy was shown.
Mist
Had a child by Jack (Starman). Do not recall if the pregnancy was shown.
Non-Super-Hero:
FABLES: Snow White became pregnant after a drug-induced night with Bigby. She later gave birth to a litter of wolf/human hybrids.
STRANGERS in PARADISE: Francine miscarried.
ELFQUEST is chock-full of pregnancies and births. I’m not conversant enough with the series to comment.
Characters UNABLE to become Pregnant:
1. Black Canary - Sustained tortue injuries in Green Arrow: Longbow Hunters that rendered her sterile. Her recent dip in a Lazarus pit may have reversed this.
2. Firestar - Using her powers will cause her to become sterile. Hank Pym developed a costume for her that repairs the damage.
*Explanation per Matt Rossi: “Ms. Marvel was impregnated originally by Immortus’ son, who used the devices of Limbo to draw her to him, make her fall in love with him, and then implanted himself into her via some freaky Limbo technology. She then was sent back to Avengers mansion where she gave birth in an extremely short amount of time and the baby was Marcus, Immortus’ son (the one who impregnated her, remember) and then the baby, too, grew up rather remarkably quickly while time itself went ape because Marcus, concieved and born in Limbo, was a being out of time and his mere presence, not to mention the twisted nature of his self-conception into our world and the rapid time displacement, was shattering causality. Eventually Marcus agreed to go back to Limbo but pledged his love for Ms Marvel and asked her to come with him to Limbo, which she agreed to do and the Avengers let her (this was later pointed out to have been a really dumb move.) …I’ve simplified this immensely.”
June 10th, 2005 at 9:25 am
“Mist
Had a child by Jack (Starman). Do not recall if the pregnancy was shown.”
It wasn’t. The pregnancy was first mentioned in Mist’s letter to Jack in #29, and in the Mist’s next appearance (the JLE issue) she had a baby.
There’s also Power Girl’s pregnancy. I’m not sure that kid has ever been mentioned again.
June 10th, 2005 at 9:42 am
Mary Jane was pregnant and delivered baby (which Osborn sent away).
June 10th, 2005 at 10:04 am
Tempest and Dolphin’s baby was named Cerdian, or Ian for short.
June 10th, 2005 at 10:12 am
Punch and Jewelee’s pregnancy was mentioned in Suicide Squad. I know; I read the issue where she found out.
There has been some discussion regarding the Marvel Universe and pregnancy. Most of the significant others of super-heroes miscarry. For the most part we have the wife of the gamma-powered Hulk; she miscarried. Reed and Sue’s first child was not easy, if I recall correctly, but either way the second was a stillborn. They, of course, are powered by cosmic rays.
There’s the question of whether Spider-Man should even try. Even if Norman Osborn’s posse hadn’t poisoned Mary Jane the odds (such as they were) were still against a normal and healthy baby. It almost seems like there are more examples but I cannot recall. The basic thesis though, was thanks to the volatile and mutagenic causes of most of ther heroes’ powers, they were unable to… have children.
It’s just as well that Scarlet Witch’s kids were retroactively erased anyway, considering how they were retroactively thrust into being.
Unfortunately the sadder, darker origin for the children makes more sense than the original one. At first they were magically concieved from the Vision and Scarlet Witch’s love. I mean, how else could they do it? The Vision may be a synthezoid, but I bet he lacks swimmers. Heck, in Avengers West Coast, John Byrne revealed that the Vision didn’t even have external equipment, so to speak. Anyway, eventually it was revealed that the kids souls were re-allocated chunks of the major WCA villain at the time, Master Pandemonium. Mephisto stole his soul, broke it in five chunks, and Scarlet Witch accidentily made off with two of them when she started concieving babies; turns out creating life was beyond her; she still housed souls but later the housing disappeared when her thoughts were not specifically on her children. Raw deal. Her memories of the kids were erased to remove the trauma. All in all it turned out to be a good story but definitely something too dark for an all-ages comic. The worst part is that it was part of Byrne’s de-construction of the Scarlet Witch. She made up her children; she forgot her children; most readers assumed that the Vision was anatomically on-model and as Star Trek’s Data puts it “fully functional” and then Byrne revealed that the synthezoid lacked a male member (and based on dialogue the sudden absence wasn’t a noticeable change) which would essentially de-humanize the character to the greatest degree and thus make the Scarlet Witch the sickest she’s ever appeared to her fans. You can fool a legion of nerds, geeks, sci-fi fans, and whatnot into thinking she married a man if they’re given the impression that the Vision is a man but for his origins. It’s harder to achieve the idea that she married anything but a robot, something with a life value or even a sexual value equevalent “to a toaster oven” when the robot in question has no Mr. Happy!
June 10th, 2005 at 10:29 am
Also in the five years later Legion, Garth and Imra had had a second pair of twins during the gap.
June 10th, 2005 at 10:57 am
In the Non-Super-Hero section you forgot the 2 pregnancies in Y (and any nitpicks about what experiencing no gravity until 3 weeks after conception would do to an embryo).
You also forgot the dream sequence in Ranma 1/2 volume 19 in which Ranma has a nightmare about bearing 4 of Kuno’s children. What happens if Ranma does get pregnant and touches hot water?
June 10th, 2005 at 1:20 pm
I remember two of the characters in Valiant’s Harbinger were the parents of Magnus: Robot Fighter, who was sent to the future. I don’t recall how much of the pregnancy was shown.
Colossus fathered a child with a woman in the Savage Land. I *think* this was revealed in an X-Men Classic back-up or a brief scene in Uncanny X-Men. The pregnancy was not shown.
Arcanna Jones was pregnant for most of the Squadron Supreme limited series, and gave birth sucessfully.
Angel (the female one, with fly wings)became pregnant with Beak’s children in New X-Men. The pregnancy lasted a very short time, and she gave birth to odd little Angel/ Beak hybrids. I don’t think she was ever drawn looking pregnant.
June 10th, 2005 at 2:07 pm
Official Comment
And now that I think about it, didn’t Wolverine also father a child in the Savage Land, in that one shot with Apocalypse?
June 10th, 2005 at 4:48 pm
How can you not have the current “hip” pregnancy!!!
Jessica Jones’s pregnancy appears in a full 1/3 of all Marvel titles now!
June 10th, 2005 at 5:56 pm
Lana Lang was pregenant sometime in the (mid? late?) 90s, and later delivered her kid in one of the Superman books. Not sure which one though, might have been a one-shot or some such.
June 10th, 2005 at 6:51 pm
Lana Lang gave birth to Clark Ross in Book 3 of Superman: the Doomsday Wars. Crappy Norm Rapmund inking and a broad story made this thing crap, among other problems. The book was Dan Jurgens’ baby, as was Doomsday at the time but it didn’t quite fly for me.
Just how old the kid is now, or how long the pregnancy lasted, is still up for debate.
I was just going to mention, Wolverine (it is left open for debate, intentionally I believe, as to whom is the father), concieved that savage kid in Wolverine: The Jungle Adventure drawn by Mignola and written by Walt Simonson.
June 11th, 2005 at 12:44 am
Man-Bat’s daughter (Elizabeth?) was born in Batman Family 17.
June 11th, 2005 at 4:21 am
Jewlee was suffering from morning sickness in Suicide Squad, was found to be pregnant, and despite an amusing scene where she stuffed a pillow up her front, they soon left the team to have their baby elsewhere. They were not seen again in Suicide Squad.
June 11th, 2005 at 8:23 am
I’m not quite sure which catagory this one would fit into, but it seems at least worth mentioning, its from the Sandmand series (written by Neil Gaiman)
Hyppolyta Hall had a child named daniel, her pregnancy was streched out an extra 2 years when she was leaving in a dream with her dead husband. her son also went onto great things, but i don’t wanna post any spoilers on it, even if it is highly predicable
June 11th, 2005 at 6:28 pm
Swamp Thing.
Abby impregnated by John Constantine, but Tefe fathered by Swampy.
Conception and birth shown in detail.
Hellblazer.
John’s birth is shown rather graphically. His mother and twin died at the delivery.
His father was implicated in trying to abort the pregnancy, which led to the deaths.
June 11th, 2005 at 8:56 pm
In Green Lantern v3 41 Star Sapphire was raped and impregnated by Predator. Yes, Carol Ferris’s two alternate personalities/possessing alien entities had a baby. Star Sapphire was shown as pregnant in that issue, but Carol did not appear pregnant when she trasformed back.
I hear the birth actually occured in the Extreme Justice series.
June 12th, 2005 at 9:22 am
The SPIDER-GIRL version of Mary-Jane was pregnant, and despite complications along the way, gave birth to a still-healthy baby boy.
June 13th, 2005 at 11:40 pm
[…] ng Fantastic Four movie and write an advice column. List of “Starter Comics” Pregnancy and Comics
Entry Filed under: pip
Leave a Comment
[…]
June 19th, 2005 at 9:29 am
Couple Titans-related pregnancy notes:
Mirage’s daughter has been shown as an infant. Her name is Juliana.
Cheshire and Arsenal’s daughter, Lian (this is the correct spelling, btw) is now being depicted as a preschool-aged child. Jade’s (Cheshire) pregnancy was ‘off camera’, as Roy (Arsenal) didn’t even learn of Lian’s existance until after the baby was born (and there were no flashbacks).
Initially, Lian was depicted as a red-haired, green eyed baby, but later — and currently — she is shown as having black hair (like Jade’s) and if a good artist draws her , her eyes are shown as having a slight Asian look to them, as would be appropriate, considering Lian is Amer-Asian (Jade is Chinese and Roy is of Irish descent).
May 29th, 2007 at 11:26 am
Colossus’s son, Peter, was shown in Colossus: Bloodline.
The soul-fragments in Wanda’s kids were fragments of Mephisto’s own soul, not of Master Pandemonium’s. Scarlet Witch’s memories of her kids were restored (mentioned in West Coast Avengers Annual #7 and during Busiek’s run on Avengers), though I don’t think how/why was ever mentioned. But then Bendis had to screw everything up….
October 18th, 2007 at 11:47 am
Since when did Mephisto have a soul?
and if Master P’s wasn’t stolen, then what was the hole in his chest for?
October 18th, 2007 at 11:51 am
http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix/masterpandemonium.htm Check it!
Leave a Reply
Contact Me
About
Subscribe:
The Best Of...
Special Topics
Archives
Categories
Twitter
Comic Blogs
Medical Blogs
Currently Reading
Arbitrarily Interesting Medical Condition
hypoparathyroidism
The Net:
Contents may have settled during shipping. Past results are no guarantee of future performance. No animals were harmed during the production of this product. Void where prohibited by law. All rights reserved. Not valid with other offers or specials. Professional driver on a closed track. Your financial institution may impose other fees. All models are over 18 years of age. Employees must wash hands before returning to work. Results not typical. Many suitcases look alike. 18% gratuity added to tables of six or more.
Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball.
© 2004-2008 Polite Dissent. Powered by WordPress