10 Controversial Comic Book Couples Fans Hated

9. Barbara Gordon And Tim Drake (Batman: Arkham Knight)

Batman: Arkham Knight Robin Batgirl
Rocksteady

Although this particular relationship never made the leap to the medium itself, fans weren't all that pleased with Rocksteady's decision to make Tim Drake and Barbara Gordon - the first Batgirl and the third Robin respectively - an item. It was certainly a departure from the comics, where Babs and OG Robin Dick Grayson were commonly seen as the Bat-fam's most iconic pairing, and in a storyline already plagued with issues, it stuck out like a sore thumb.

There's certainly nothing wrong in making changes from the source material, because - as we'd seen before then already - Rocksteady had managed to make some interesting alterations to the Bat-canon in the creation of their Arkhamverse. The problem here, for many, was that it was a totally superfluous change, and an odd one too all things considered. Tim had always been the youngest of the Robins, and with Babs and Dick having established themselves as Batman's first sidekicks, their eventual pairing felt organic.

Here, the only motivation for having them together seemed to amount to nothing more than 'just because', making their eventual marriage feel both undeserved and just plain weird.

Even the Matter of Family prequel (which, in many respects, is actually better than the full game), failed to justify why they were together. Wrong Robin, Rocksteady. Wrong Robin.

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WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.