Best Superhero Sibling Rivalries In The Comics

If epic sibling rivalries have their roots in ancient mythologies, it's only appropriate that one of the greatest comic book rivalries is drawn out of Norse myth. Indeed, many of the most popular comic book duels between Thor (the God of Thunder) and his step-brother Loki (the God of Mischief) are adapted from the myths — including one referenced in the "Loki" TV series where Loki cuts off the goddess Lady Sif's hair because of her romantic connection to Thor. In the original myths, Loki gets some dwarves to create new golden hair for Sif, while in the comics, Loki can't pay the dwarves so they craft black hair instead.

One of the most relatable aspects of Thor and Loki's rivalry is that despite their violent battles, the two still retain affection for each other. Both have set aside their differences to work together, and while Loki is resentful of how their father Odin often favors his natural-born son Thor, he still considers the thunder god his brother and can't help but be loyal to him.

Intriguingly, in the original myths, Loki tricked the dwarf Sindri into creating the hammer Mjolnir as a gift for Thor to apologize for cutting Sif's hair. While the comics don't take this into account, it's an intriguing wrinkle in a tale of sibling rivalry that reaches back centuries.

The Greek God of the oceans Poseidon occasionally found himself in conflict with his brothers Zeus and Hades (not to mention Zeus' many illegitimate demigod children), and similar family squabbles continue to plague the sea with DC's King of Atlantis Aquaman and his half-brother Orm, better known as Ocean Master. While the two have been at odds for decades, the exact nature of their relationship has changed greatly over the years.

Originally, Ocean Master was Orm Curry, the human son of Mary O'Sullivan and Aquaman's human father Tom Curry. Unlike the Atlantean Orm Marius from the 2018 "Aquaman" movie, this human Orm had no powers and grew up to be the high-tech pirate Orm Marius/Ocean Master who fought against Aquaman. Later, when the DC Universe rebooted after the "Crisis on Infinite Earths" event, Orm became the son of Aquaman's "true" father Atlan the wizard and an Inupiat woman. Gaining mystical powers after selling his soul to a demon, Orm continued to fight Aquaman as Ocean Master.

Orm got another origin during DC's "The New 52" relaunch, where he became a full-blooded Atlantean and the second son of Queen Atlanna, who inherits the throne of Atlantis but again comes into conflict with his half-human brother Arthur. While character histories may be fluid as water in comic books, sibling rivalries are eternal.

Peter Parker grew up thinking he was an only child — but that stopped being the case when the insane geneticist Miles Warren (aka the Jackal) cloned him and created a perfect genetic duplicate of Spider-Man. Possessing all of Peter's memories, powers, and sense of responsibility, the clone was crushed by the realization that he wasn't the real Peter Parker and decided to change his name to "Ben Reilly" and leave town, occasionally helping people from the shadows.

Five years later, Ben returned to New York — and his reunion with Peter was a decidedly rocky one. Peter was unnerved at the thought of having another version of him swinging around the city as the "Scarlet Spider" ... and when genetic tests indicated that Ben might be the original Peter Parker, he completely lost it. Fortunately, the two reconciled and began bonding as brothers with Ben even taking over as Spider-Man when Peter wanted to start a family.

Ben would even sacrifice himself to save Peter from dying at the hands of the Green Goblin — only to be resurrected by the Jackal and driven insane. Temporarily taking on the identity of the Jackal himself and battling Spider-Man, Ben eventually tried to become a hero again, but his relationship with Peter continued to be strained. Curiously, additional Spider-Man stories indicate Peter also has a sister, SHIELD agent Theresa Parker. Wonder how she'll relate to Ben?

Twin siblings Pietro and Wanda Maximoff have a life defined by tragedy. Originally cast as the mutant children of Magneto, the twins had to contend with human bigotry and multiple attempts on their lives, leading them to join Magneto's Brotherhood of Evil Mutants as Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch. The two eventually switched sides and lent their powers of superspeed and magic to the Avengers, but this didn't exactly solve their problems.

Wanda became increasingly unstable, causing Pietro — already impatient and hot-tempered — to take advantage of the situation by convincing her to warp reality and create the world of House of M where mutants are the ruling class. Pietro ended up dying in this reality and a distraught Wanda re-warps reality to depower most of the mutant population, including Quicksilver. While Pietro eventually regained his powers, re-establishing his connection with his sister proved more difficult. The two may share a strong bond, but it's routinely tested by manipulation, mental illness, and societal prejudice.

The "long-lost brother" is a common trope in legends and soap operas, but Tony Stark's brother Arno has a more complicated origin than most. The genetically altered child of Howard and Maria Stark, Arno became the family's dirty secret when Howard sabotaged the experiment and Arno was born with a congenital disease that left him paralyzed and unable to speak without the aid of machines. Gifted with a genius-level intellect, Arno remained hidden in the shadows for years while Howard and Maria adopted another child who grew up to be the super-genius, Tony Stark (aka Iron Man)

Tony would eventually learn of Arno's existence, and the step-brothers worked together to create new technologies for the benefit of the world. Arno even developed a way to rewrite his own DNA and manage his disease, temporarily granting him the full physical autonomy he had always wanted.

Unfortunately, Arno later became stricken with a delusion that Earth was under threat of an alien A.I., causing him to try and unite humanity by enslaving it. Unable to stop Arno by conventional means, Tony was forced to place his brother in a life support system that let him live in a computer-generated fantasy simulation where Arno was the hero. Putting your sibling into a version of "The Matrix" may not be the healthiest way to end a fight, but at least Arno went out happy.

Thanos, the Mad Titan, once gathered together the six Infinity Gems and erased half of all life in the universe. Surely someone like that must have a monster for a brother, right? Well, maybe ... but it depends on how you look at it.

While Thanos is a mutant born with purple skin and a monstrous appearance, his brother Eros (aka Starfox) is a devastatingly handsome man with the superhuman ability to charm anyone he meets via low-level mental manipulation. His abilities allow him to effortlessly seduce so many women (including several married ones) that he was once accused of using his powers as a date-rape drug. Thanos himself finds his brother annoying and infuriating — and once used the power of the Infinity Gauntlet to erase Eros' mouth, the better to keep him from charming anyone.

Weirdly, Eros was once accused of mentally manipulating a young Thanos to fall in love with Death, suggesting that all of Thanos' later genocidal actions were Eros' fault. While other stories suggest Thanos' relationship with Death went beyond any manipulations by his brother, this is a very disturbing aspect of their sibling history.

Superhero personalities are often defined or revealed by their powers, and that's definitely true of these superhero brothers whose powers literally represent chaos and order. Initially granted powers by the Lords of Order and Chaos, brothers Hank and Don gained the ability to transform into superhuman versions of themselves. While the conservative and hot-headed Hank became the superhumanly strong and fast Hawk, his liberal brother Don used his strength and speed more defensively. Although they worked together, their differing points of view often led to plenty of friction.

Eventually Don was killed while saving people and the role of Dove went to a woman, Dawn Granger, who inherited Don's powers. Still working with Hank, the new Hawk and Dove duo continued to strive to find the balance between chaos and order. Interestingly, Dawn's powers allow her to suppress Hank's violent nature and keep him from getting too out of control, showing that while they may fight, they also need each other.

The Greek gods may have had their family issues, but even they weren't quite as strange as The Endless, a family of beings who embody incredibly powerful, abstract forces in the DC Universe. 

Created by Neil Gaiman for his comic book series "The Sandman," the Endless includes Destiny, Destruction, Desire, Despair, Delirium, Death, and Dream (aka Morpheus, the main character of the series). As the living embodiments of natural forces, the Endless are actually more powerful than most gods, which makes their family drama more interesting.

While certain members of the Endless (notably, Dream and Death) are very serious about fulfilling responsibilities in maintaining their realms, others (like Destruction) abandoned their duties for personal reasons — like, not wanting to destroy the scientific advances of the Enlightenment. This causes conflict within the family. Likewise, the androgynous and cruel Desire has a rivalry with Dream, whom he sees as a sibling.

Fortunately, the Endless have a level-headed member in Death, whose ironically sunny and happy nature is capable of even shaking Dream/Morpheus out of his depressed state following years of imprisonment. Depicting Death as a kind and compassionate entity was an unexpected move from Gaiman — but considering how cruel, arrogant, and downright crazy some of the other Endless can be, it's a good thing they've had her around to keep them in line.